Former Ohio State defensive back Denzel Ward has been doing his best to assist others during the COVID-19 health crisis. Just last week, he announced an initiative through his Make Them Know Your Name Foundation to help pay the largest monthly expense of 21 individuals from the Cleveland area who have been impacted financially by the current pandemic.
It was apparently a big hit. According to a piece by USA TODAY, Ward’s foundation received over 1,000 applications for assistance through the first couple of days of communicating the outreach.
“It’s humbling,” Ward told USA TODAY. “We’ll try to help as many people as we can.”
The Browns' Denzel Ward shows maturity beyond his years by announcing he will pay the biggest monthly expense for 21 Cleveland residents in need of assistance. https://t.co/L6lbu8Dfnu
— USA TODAY Sports (@usatodaysports) April 5, 2020
Ward said that he wanted to make the charitable work “more personal” than just giving money to a cause. He and his MTNYN Foundation settled on 21 people because that’s his jersey number.
“This pandemic has touched me a lot, seeing people affected by this,” Ward said. “It was so unexpected. It caught people by surprise. That’s why I wanted to take a load off their back.”
Good on you Ward. It’s stories like these that remind you how personal and human people can be in tough times like the ones we are living in today.