Detroit Lions quarterback Matthew Stafford and his wife Kelly are donating $350,000 to the University of Georgia for a new social justice initiative.
The Stafford’s are joined by current Georgia football coach Kirby Smart and his wife Mary Beth, who are donating $150,000, giving the university a total of a half-million dollars to start up the program.
“The University of Georgia Athletic Association has launched an ambitious program that seeks to implement strategic initiatives in the areas of diversity, inclusion, equity and social justice,” Georgia University Director of Athletics Greg McGarity announced on Friday.
“The generosity of Matthew and Coach Smart allows the Athletic Association to implement strategic initiatives in diversity, inclusion, equity, and social justice,” McGarity continued. “These gifts will help the Athletic Association educate, implement dynamic programming, and execute service opportunities to achieve our goals, those being to foster critical consciousness, cultural competence and further developing change within the Athletic Association and our greater community.”
This is another in a long line of altruistic gifts the Stafford’s have made during his 11 plus years in Detroit. The Stafford’s have made a routine of surprising families with visits and gift at Christmas time, donating to the Acoustic Neuroma Association after Kelly’s surgery for her brain tumor, $1 million towards a local community center, and in March they donated $100,000 to Detroit communities to fight the COVID-19 crisis.
