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The New York Giants continued a long-standing tradition this week, delivering holiday bonuses to their support staff.
In total, head coach Joe Judge and Giants players pooled together $300,000 in bonuses — a franchise record for these bonuses — and then distributed them to the surprised employees.
“To see Coach Judge walking into the kitchen, everyone was like, ‘Oh, what’s going on?'” executive chef Angelo Basilone told the New York Daily News. “He shook my hand, thanked me, told me to thank my staff, and asked me to distribute it to everybody. He was grateful for all the hard work that we put in.”
Basilone said there were a lot of “teary eyes” and “shocked faces” as the bonuses — averaging over $4,200 per person — were handed out.
“The number’s astronomically high. It’s the highest it’s been on any team I’ve ever been on in my career,” safety Logan Ryan said. “And it’s helping a lot of people out, people who have kids, who are dealing with the stresses of Covid or whatever it may be.
“You don’t know how much a little bit of money does for somebody and what situation they’re in. You never know what someone’s going through.”
Ryan added that the defensive backs room set the standard and the remainder of the roster followed suit. Even some guys on the lower end of the pay scale stepped up and did their part.
“We’ve got some guys in our [defensive backs] room that set the standard and people followed, captains and elsewhere,” Ryan said. “Who you could imagine could afford to give some, gave some and more. And even the lowest [salaried] guys on our roster were giving good money.”
For those in the kitchen and elsewhere throughout the building, the past two years have been very difficult. Not just because the team has struggled on the field, but because COVID-19 has changed the way everyone has to live their lives.
These holiday bonuses go a long way for the support staff and their families. And they certainly appreciate the gesture.
“It’s a long season for everybody from training camp to now,” Basilone said. “The first person [working in the kitchen] walks through the door at 5 a.m. and the last person leaves around 7:30-8 o’clock. For [Judge] to realize and recognize we’re putting in the long hours and being there for them is great.”
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