Anthony and Jessica Sherman Join Compassion International’s Fill The Stadium to Help Children in Crisis Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. – Yesterday’s national football championship game may have found professional football teams and their fans disagreeing over calls or plays – but there is something that no one can argue: Kansas City Chiefs’ Fullback Anthony Sherman shows dedication both on and off the football field.
Over 40 professional athletes and national leaders, including Sherman and his wife, Jessica, have personally joined the Compassion International’s Fill The Stadium Team to help children in crisis in the developing world during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Immediately following last year’s national football championship win, the Shermans did something unexpected: they jumped on a plane to Nicaragua with Compassion International to visit communities in poverty and see how they could help – just before the pandemic began further decimating communities in poverty. When the Fill the Stadiumcampaign launched shortly after their return from Nicaragua, the couple did not waste any time joining the team.
“Fill The Stadium is saving at-risk children who are vulnerable,” Sherman said. “We can’t stand on the sidelines – we need to get involved.”
Jessica Sherman echoed her husband’s sentiments. “To know that we can have such an enormous impact across the world and being able to see what’s happening, it makes it super personal.”
“Compassion International is determined to reach every child who needs help,” Sherman stated. “We’re so excited to be part of this great organization – we are in it for the long haul.”
Fill The Stadium has a clear goal: to provide life-saving aid to 70,000 children in Compassion International’s programs who missed out on relief this year due to gaps of support created by the COVID-19 crisis. The target of 70,000 is the average capacity of pro-football stadiums in America. Fill The Stadiumleaders hope that fans who normally would have spent money on professional sports games this year—but couldn’t—choose instead to support children and their families at risk of starvation.
Fill The Stadium team leaders—Santiago “Jimmy” Mellado, CEO and president of Compassion International, and Steve Stenstrom, president of Pro Athletes Outreach—have already received a strong assist from 40 athletes and leaders.
The Fill The Stadium team notes that $500—approximately the same amount most Americans would spend for a family of four to attend a pro-football game—will help provide 12 months of life saving food, nutritional supplements, hygiene essentials, and COVID-19 medical screenings for children and families in crisis. So far, the group has “filled” over 22,000 seats— on their way to the goal of helping 70,000 children.
Joining the Shermans and Mellado in leadership roles for Fill The Stadium efforts are such standout professional athletes as Nick Foles, professional football MVP quarterback; Alyssa Naeher of the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team; Carson Palmer, former professional quarterback; Chris Davis, first baseman of the Baltimore Orioles; Devin and Jason McCourty, defensive backs of New England; Nate Solder of the New York Giants; Nick Ahmed of the Arizona Diamondbacks; Jaccob Slavin of the Carolina Hurricanes; Brock Huard, former professional quarterback, and many others.
In this year of coronavirus, “We are all experiencing the reality of empty stadiums,” says the Fill The Stadium team. It’s why this effort so desperately needs a caring, prayerful and thoughtful community to join together in this needed relief.
To learn more, visit the Fill The Stadium website, and Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
Founded in 1952,Compassion International is a Christian child development organization that works to release children from poverty in Jesus’ name. Compassion revolutionized the fight against global poverty by working exclusively with the Church to lift children out of spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty. Compassion partners with more than 8,000 churches in 25 countries to deliver its holistic child development program to over 2 million babies, children and young adults. Its child sponsorship program has been validated through independent, empirical research.