GrnBay007
11-17-2007, 05:45 PM
NFL star, wife give back with baskets
BY GRAHAM COUCH
KALAMAZOO -- Plenty of pleasures come with being a receiver for the Green Bay Packers.
Catching passes from Brett Favre, chatting it up on ESPN's Monday Night Football postgame set and nabbing a window booth at any northern Wisconsin restaurant are just a few.
For Greg Jennings, so is earning a paycheck that allows him to do something for his hometown.
Jennings and his wife, Nicole, are giving out more than 70 Thanksgiving baskets -- each with a turkey and nonperishable food items -- to Kalamazoo families who otherwise might not enjoy such a meal.
``It's one of those things where we just wanted to help out those less fortunate in the community and make their Thanksgiving Day better and a little less stressful in terms of trying to get food,'' Jennings said. ``It was definitely my wife's idea, and it's a great idea.''
Nicole Jennings, who met her husband in sixth grade in the Kalamazoo Public Schools, said she'll be here this weekend to oversee the event. Greg Jennings will remain in Green Bay, where the Packers host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The Packers will play in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.
Those who have signed up to receive baskets will attend Sunday's 11:30 a.m. service at Progressive Deliverance Ministries, Church of God in Christ, 1527 N. Edwards St., where Greg Jennings' father, Greg Jennings Sr., is the pastor. The baskets will be handed out afterward, along with gift certificates for food and other offerings to those in attendance. The deadline to sign up for baskets has passed.
Ten autographed Greg Jennings Packers jerseys will be given away as part of a free drawing, along with certificates to Big Apple Bagels and Kalamazoo 10 movie theater and cookie baskets from Cookies by Design. Nicole secured the financial and food donations from Harding's, Wal-Mart, Save-a-Lot, Target and Harold Zeigler Ford.
``We were actually trying to figure out what we could do before the year was out, a way to give back,'' she said.
BY GRAHAM COUCH
KALAMAZOO -- Plenty of pleasures come with being a receiver for the Green Bay Packers.
Catching passes from Brett Favre, chatting it up on ESPN's Monday Night Football postgame set and nabbing a window booth at any northern Wisconsin restaurant are just a few.
For Greg Jennings, so is earning a paycheck that allows him to do something for his hometown.
Jennings and his wife, Nicole, are giving out more than 70 Thanksgiving baskets -- each with a turkey and nonperishable food items -- to Kalamazoo families who otherwise might not enjoy such a meal.
``It's one of those things where we just wanted to help out those less fortunate in the community and make their Thanksgiving Day better and a little less stressful in terms of trying to get food,'' Jennings said. ``It was definitely my wife's idea, and it's a great idea.''
Nicole Jennings, who met her husband in sixth grade in the Kalamazoo Public Schools, said she'll be here this weekend to oversee the event. Greg Jennings will remain in Green Bay, where the Packers host the Carolina Panthers on Sunday. The Packers will play in Detroit on Thanksgiving Day.
Those who have signed up to receive baskets will attend Sunday's 11:30 a.m. service at Progressive Deliverance Ministries, Church of God in Christ, 1527 N. Edwards St., where Greg Jennings' father, Greg Jennings Sr., is the pastor. The baskets will be handed out afterward, along with gift certificates for food and other offerings to those in attendance. The deadline to sign up for baskets has passed.
Ten autographed Greg Jennings Packers jerseys will be given away as part of a free drawing, along with certificates to Big Apple Bagels and Kalamazoo 10 movie theater and cookie baskets from Cookies by Design. Nicole secured the financial and food donations from Harding's, Wal-Mart, Save-a-Lot, Target and Harold Zeigler Ford.
``We were actually trying to figure out what we could do before the year was out, a way to give back,'' she said.