It wasn’t your typical Monday around Harvesters Community Food Network as Kansas City Chiefs Linebacker Nick Bolton, accompanied by his mother Jalunda Bolton, spent time packaging food boxes for families in need around Kansas City. According to Harvesters stats, 1 in 11 people are at risk of hunger while 1 in 8 children are at risk of hunger – meaning there isn’t enough resources within the home to adequately feed everyone while also having a big uncertainty around if there will be enough for the next day. Between both states he spent time in, Texas and Missouri, these states are amongst the hungriest states in the US holding some of the highest percentages of homes who are affected by food insecurities/hunger.
Nick Bolton is from Frisco, TX where he attended Lone Star High School then went on to be a defensive leader at the University of Missouri. Bolton has always shown leadership on and off the field. He was 1 of 50 student athletes and staff that led a peaceful protest outside of the Boone County Courthouse in response to the violent, graphic video release of George Floyd. While at Mizzou he was a true freshman and played in all 13 games that year. He also secured a couple SEC defensive player of the week honors, first team all-SEC in 2020, and broke several commendable records during that time. As a Kansas City Chief, he has been nothing short of a powerhouse. He came in with a goal in mind to break the then record for recorded tackles in a single season; which was held by Derrick Johnson at 179 (2011 season). Bolton broke that record this past 2022-2023 season recording 180 tackles in a single season and also received a congratulatory tweet from Derrick Johnson himself.
It doesn’t stop there. Bolton was instrumental in the Chiefs reaching Super Bowl LVII where Kansas City defeated the Philadelphia Eagles 38 – 35. Early in the 2nd quarter of the Super Bowl he returned a fumble 36 yards that resulted in a touchdown which would tie the Chiefs up with the Eagles 14-14. That touchdown helped lead the Chief’s to their third franchise Super Bowl win. Bolton made history that night as he is now the first Missouri Tiger to score a touchdown in Super Bowl history. MIZ!
The CEO of Harvesters, Stephen Davis, gave a tour to the Boltons before leading them to help box up donated Campbell’s soups and other food for local families alongside local Hyvee staff. Bolton is 1 of 10 NFL players around the league that has partnered with Campbell’s Chunky Soup, the official soup of the NFL, to create the Campbell’s Chunky Soup Squad. The goal of the ‘squad’ is to partner with Campbell’s on behalf of their respective NFL team to end hunger in their local city. How does this work, one may ask? Per https://www.campbells.com/chunky-sacks-hunger/ official website ‘for every in game quarterback sack our player and his team secures, Chunky Sacks Hunger™ will donate product to their local food bank.’ Chunky, who is partnered with 10 NFL teams, has a goal of donating more than two million meals.They want to “sack” food insecurity by bringing more awareness on the issue that plagues across America and directly help by providing food and many other very needed donations to help local communities across the USA, per Campbell’s Chunky Soup. 49 million people–1 in 6 people–turned to the charitable food sector for help in 2022, according to Feeding America. To help eradicate hunger across America, more leadership is needed amongst communities to take more of the necessary steps to help those in need. When asked what inspired him [Bolton] to be a leader in his community, he shared a heartfelt answer that inspired the room. “The woman over there, my mom. She inspires me every day to be the best person I can be, whether that be giving back to the community, whether it be grades, football, anything,” he began. “So everyday I’m just trying to be an image of her and my sister and anyway I can give back to the community I’m going to do it.” he shared as he looked towards his mother. His mom is a breast cancer survivor and his sister also is a survivor of brain tumor; which is his ‘why’ for everything he does. Let’s all be more like Nick Bolton. A leader in the community. Get involved with your local community and change a life, or lives, as we approach the Holiday season.
To get involved with Harvesters (Kansas City) visit https://www.harvesters.org/how-to-help
To learn more about Chunky Sacks Hunger and track donation results to date, visit ChunkySacksHunger.com
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