By Heather Graves
Correspondent
GREEN BAY – Green Bay Packers left tackle David Bakhtiari hung up his helmet and exchanged it for a soup ladle to help tackle hunger in the area.
Together with his mom, Debbie, and several members of the West High School football team, Bakhtiari helped serve hundreds of bowls of soup to those in need at the New Community Shelter in downtown Green Bay with Campbell’s Chunky Soup Tuesday, Oct. 22.
“To give back is always a honor and a privilege,” Bakhtiari said. “I think any time you have this platform, it isn’t giving service, it’s almost like a right to do it. So to be with my mom and give back is very special. Frankly, without her, I wouldn’t be where I am today and have the strength to be who I am as a man.”
In partnership with Campbell’s Chunky Soup, the Bakhriaris donated 10,000 bowls, or 5,400 cans, of soup in an effort to fuel NFL communities around the country as part of the Champions of Chunky campaign.
Following the donation, Bakhtiari and his mom rolled up their shelves and helped serve dinner to hundreds of hungry guests.
“Many of these people will never get to a Green Bay Packers game, which means they will probably never get the opportunity to meet a player face-to-face,” said Terri Refsguard, New Community Shelter executive director. “I think that is just so cool. Meeting David is going to be big. People are going to walk out of here full and they are going to walk out of here with smiles on their faces – every single one of them.”
Refsguard said the shelter serves on average 200 to 230 people every night.
“Our staff does that in an hour,” she said. “They start lining up at five after four – we open the doors at five. But there is this sense of ‘I have to get there because I don’t want them to run out of food by the time I get in the building.’ Have we ever run out of food? Never, never, never.”
Refsguard said an event like this, that is hands-on, gives those in the community a look at what the shelter offers and what it can do to help.
“If you want to know if there is poverty in our community – come sit in our dining room,” she said. “There are people living on the edge. And for groups like the Packers and Campbell’s and Bellin to support this event, that gives credibility to our cause.”
Bellin Health was also on-site during the evening to offer free flu shots.
“For the people who are joining us tonight, they don’t usually bother,” Refsguard said. “So for them to get a flu shot, that is fantastic.”