Dave Birkett
Detroit Free Press
Detroit Lions coach Jim Caldwell makes a point of thanking his players for their community service by showing slides of them helping others during team meetings. This week, at least one of those slides will be dedicated to his quarterback.
Matthew Stafford and his wife, Kelly, adopted the families of fallen Detroit police officers, Myron Jarrett and Ken Steil, as part of their ongoing holiday tradition.
Kelly Stafford posted pictures of the couple delivering gifts to both families on her Instagram account this week.
"Kelly and I have done that for, not always an officer, but somebody, one or two families here and there, during the holidays the past five, six years, I think," Stafford said. "Just something that we obviously feel fortunate to kind of have the platform that we have and surely don’t do it to get asked about it in this session, but just happy to hopefully bring some cheer to some people in the holidays that have maybe had a tough time and this year was a great opportunity considering I did two families with fallen police officers, people that protect us and lost their lives in the line of duty. Something we felt was important and just happy to do it.”
Jarrett was killed by a hit-and-run driver during a traffic stop Oct. 28. He's survived by his wife, Sacha, and four children.
Steil was shot while in pursuit of a carjacking suspect and died five days later from a blood clot. He left behind his wife, JoAnn, and two young children.
Stafford, who has been heavily involved in community projects in and around Detroit since the Lions made him the No. 1 pick of the 2009 draft, said visits like the ones he paid to both families this week "does help put things in perspective, and this time of year is a great time to do it."
"The families that we visited this holiday have been great and obviously appreciative," Stafford said. "But as much as they’re getting out of it as seeing little kids that maybe just lost a father or a mother or whatever it was, have something to be happy about, it means a lot too, to be able to give back especially this time of year."