Georgia Football Alumni Matthew Stafford Paints for a Cause

Matthew Stafford hasn’t been the starting quarterback for the Bulldogs since 2008. In that time, Stafford has done more with the opportunities that being a NFL franchise quarterback has given him than most.

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Back in 2012, number 9 for the Detroit Lions was attending the Griese-Hutchinson-Wood Champion’s for Children’s Hearts Gala benefitting the University of Michigan’s C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital.

While attending the Gala, Stafford sat with the Falzone family who was there supporting their daughter Faith. She suffered from an incurable bowel disorder and was the Mott representative for the event. It didn’t take long for Faith’s little brother, Will, to hit it off with Stafford. When it came time for the live auction, he bid on Will’s favorite item: a trip to Chicago that included tickets to a Monday night showdown between the Detroit Lions and Chicago Bears. He then turned to the little boy and said, “There you go buddy, you go to Chicago, and take your family.”

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That day he did something for a little boy who was dealing with something no child should ever have to deal with: seeing a loved one be ill. He made a difference in a child’s life.

Now, the Georgia football alumni is focused on the S.A.Y. Detroit Play Center, which encourages kids to maintain a good grade point average with rewarding sports and music programs.

Stafford donated $1 million dollars in 2015 to the Mitch Albom charity to help build a football facility for the youth of Detroit. Over the past few months, the previous pro-bowl MVP has taken his work with the charity one step further and partnered with Repreve, the official recycling and sustainability partner of the Detroit Lions, to make five, six-foot canvas paintings using footballs instead of brushes. The canvases are made from 35 recycled plastic bottles.

Matthew Stafford signs one of his creations that is being auctioned off this week. /

An auction of all five one-of-a-kind paintings is currently open on eBay for a week, closing Tuesday, March 1. All of the proceeds from the auction will benefit the S.A.Y. Detroit Play Center.