As quarterback and head coach of the New York Giants, Eli Manning and Tom Coughlin teamed up on the field from 2004 to 2015 and won two Super Bowl championships. Now the two football legends are working together off the field to help families impacted by pediatric cancer.
Childhood cancer has been an important cause for both men. Coughlin founded The Jay Fund to help families with monetary and emotional support, while Manning works with Tackle Kids Cancer, which is dedicated to research.
The two recently hosted an event that provided much-needed grocery help for New Jersey families facing the emotional and financial strains of fighting cancer. They spent time helping families pick out food items, greeting children and even bagging groceries.
“These families are in difficult straits,” Coughlin told ABC News during the event. “It just tears your heart out to think about what they’re going through.”
The Jay Fund reports a 63% increase in requests for help with groceries over the past year. The organization says it provided more than $333,000 in food assistance in 2023, averaging $889 per family.
“I’ve met some of these families at the hospital in Hackensack Children’s Hospital,” Manning said. “I’ve seen, you know, what they’re going through on that side of it. And just the, you know, spending long periods of time in the hospital going through chemo, the parents and the other kids trying to come in and managing those schedules of everything going on. But then also know, hey, there’s a whole other world once they leave the hospital.”
During the NFL season, Manning and Coughlin, who also team up for Pediatric Cancer Awareness Month in September, were adored every Sunday during home games in East Rutherford, New Jersey. Now they are dedicated to serving the community that showed them that love.
Support is now more crucial than ever, they say, with the continued spike in grocery prices.
Among those taking part in the shopping spree is Jabari Whitaker, a 17-year-old who has been battling brain cancer while preparing for his high school graduation.
Jabari’s mom, Jessica Jennings, receives disability benefits. Her son’s diagnosis is adding new challenges. She had to stop working once her son was diagnosed due to her own health challenges, she told ABC News. Thanks to the program, the family says it feels good to be able to get whatever they need from the grocery store.
“You know, it’s just big impact,” Jennings said.” But, you know, thank God the Jay Fund helping us out. The Jay Fund, they actually have a lot of stuff with like the moms or the dads. So we can speak to each other and meet each other and spend time and just relieve a little stress.”
Another family participating in the shopping spree includes the family of 5-year-old Hunter Sanchez. The Jay Foundation paid six months of the family’s rent, which they said was helpful after going from two incomes to one, his mother Domonique Martinez said.
“Anytime we walk into the hospital, [they’re] like, ‘Do you need anything?’ And I’m like, ‘Maybe we need groceries this week,'” Martinez said. “And they’re like, great, and they’ll just hand us a bag, no questions.”
The Jay Fund was established in honor of Jay McGillis, a former player of Coughlin’s at Boston College who passed away from leukemia in 1992. Coughlin knew that if he ever had a chance to give back, it would be in the name and image of this young man who played for him.
Coughlin’s goals inspired Manning to get involved and now both men champion the spirit of teamwork, knowing that these families are in an ongoing battle.
“I’ve seen the great stories of some of these kids when they were 8 years old, and now they’re in high school or getting close to graduating high school and back, and they’re healthy and they’re doing great,” Manning said. “Unfortunately, there’s always some that don’t make it. And that’s what inspires you to just say there’s more work got to be done. You got to get better, you know, better research. We gotta get better trials.”
