South Florida Sun-Sentinel Palm Beach (Sunday)
NFL player remembers his roots
Davie native Jon Feliciano donates $25K to local charities
There was a period of time while attending Western High School in Davie that Jon Feliciano was living in a condemned trailer and while getting breakfast and lunch at school, he still missed meals here and there.
The six-year NFL veteran and current Buffalo Bills offensive guard recently donated $25,000 to two nonprofit organizations: Feeding South Florida and Meals on Wheels South Florida.
The funds will help the organizations provide food and additional resources to individuals in Broward, Miami-Dade, Monroe and Palm Beach counties impacted by the COVID-19 shutdown.
Feliciano, 28, who dealt with bouts of poverty and homelessness in his junior and senior years of high school in Davie, said he knew he wanted to do something to ensure people, especially children and seniors, were able to have access to food and other resources.
“Honestly, this is very important to me,” Feliciano said, who before becoming a University of Miami football standout lived in a condemned building with no heat or running water with his oldest brother and mother, who is a cancer survivor. “We didn’t have a lot of money and I would go to Western to just eat breakfast and lunch. The community in Davie always looked out for me.”
In his junior year, Feliciano said the school gave him a Publix gift card to buy food and he said that is one of the reasons he wanted to return the favor. He didn’t let his coaches know at the time that he was homeless, but there was speculation that he needed help. In his senior year, then football coach Rashad West sat him down and asked what they could do.
“Individuals, especially those in lowincome households, are being blindsided by the impact that this pandemic is having on all our communities,” said Feliciano, who graduated from Western High School in 2009 and the University of Miami in 2015. He spent four years with the Oakland Raiders after being a fourth-round selection and signed a two-year, free-agent deal with the Bills last year.
“I grew up in South Florida and still call it home,” he said. “Without knowing how long we’ll be quarantined, I couldn’t just stand back and not help families get fed. I always knew I would come back and pay it forward because of Western High School.”
Feliciano said he got the donation idea from his then high school basketball coach Steven Todd to select those charities. Todd is no longer coaching but still works at the school teaching math.
“I wanted to do something and actually do it at my high school, so I could watch it flourish and be hands-on with it,” Feliciano said, who contacted the Broward County Public Schools and tried to work the donation through it.
He said it fell through because the school district opened more schools for lunches, including nearby Flamingo Elementary, which is minutes from the high school.
“My coach had worked with Feeding South Florida and I knew my money would actually go to helping people,” Feliciano said. “During the talks with the Broward County school district, we had reached out to Meals on Wheels for catering at Western, but after that fell through they said they had a bunch of elderly people they needed to feed, so we decided to go with that.”
The trailer that he was living in with his brother and mother was damaged when Hurricane Wilma hit. They needed to move it to another trailer park but he still needed a home. Then they were evicted and bounced around. In his senior year, the family had enough money to move into a new trailer.
All through adversity, Feliciano said he had one goal and that kept him focused to play football at the University of Miami. He received a full scholarship and played five seasons there.
“Everything I went through growing up, honestly felt like another day,” he said. “It was definitely a blessing looking back on it and I continue to work hard.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Feliciano said. “I wake up every day and I am just grateful. I have a beautiful wife and child and another little boy on the way. We just have to listen to what the experts are telling us. As a society sometimes we don’t listen and we have to take this day by day. People are out there sick and dying and you wouldn’t want it to be your grandma or grandpa or another family member.”
Feeding South Florida is the largest food bank serving Palm Beach, Broward, Miami-Dade and Monroe counties. It currently distributes more than 62 million pounds (51.5 million meals) of food annually to over 700,000 individuals —240,190 of whom are children and 110,000 are older adults.
“Feeding South Florida is incredibly grateful for Mr. Feliciano’s generosity; it’s a true example of understanding what’s needed at this critical time for so many,” said Sari Vatske, Feeding South Florida’s executive vice president. “This donation will allow us to rapidly respond to the growing need.”
For 35 years, Meals on Wheels South Florida has delivered nutritious meals, friendly visits and safety checks that enable
South Florida seniors to live nourished lives with independence and dignity. It currently provides services for more than 10,000 seniors, with an additional 1,400 homebound seniors on their waiting list in need of home-delivered meals.
“The COVID-19 pandemic has pushed the number of seniors who have nothing to eat to record levels,” said Mark Adler,
Meals on Wheels executive director. “In these scary times, it is truly heartwarming when a hero comes along. Mr. Feliciano is a hero against senior hunger. With his generous support, there will be 375 fewer seniors in South Florida going to bed hungry.”
Feliciano said he will continue to monitor the situation and wouldn’t rule out another donation down the road. He lives less than five minutes from where his old trailer sat.
“I still live in Davie,” he said. “I am probably going to be here for the rest of my life. I love this community.”
Visit feedingsouthflorida.org/ and mowsoflo.org/.