Patriots owner Robert Kraft has ensured that the home venue of the six-time Super Bowl champions is being put to good use.
And on Friday, a significant milestone was reached, with the Patriots and Massachusetts Military Support Foundation teaming up to package their 2 millionth meal to help those directly affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
How the Patriots became involved falls into the category of a classic football audible.
The distribution center initially being utilized by the Massachusetts Military Support Foundation on Cape Cod had to be turned into a COVID-19 field hospital, forcing organizers to scramble for a new location in March.
Enter the Patriots.
"There are a lot of people in need of some help right now. I am so glad that we could offer our support and assistance," Kraft said. "It is heartwarming to see how many people have volunteered to assist in the packaging and distributing of 2 million meals. It has been a tremendous team effort that is positively impacting the lives of others throughout New England."
For the past six weeks, some of the vast area at Gillette Stadium –- part of which was already being utilized for ongoing blood drives and as a COVID-19 testing site in cooperation with Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker –- was transformed into a safe space to put together “vital food packages” for veterans, military families and veteran service organizations. The packages contain nonperishable foods and nutritionist-developed recipes to provide three meals a day for two people for 14 days.
Those meals have then been delivered to six different locations across Massachusetts for pickup, while others have been delivered directly to communities across New England. One community hit particularly hard, Chelsea, received a delivery on Saturday with 1,000 boxes that included 84,000 meals stacked on the Patriots’ moving truck.
The truck has six Lombardi trophies painted on the side of it, a reminder of the team’s championship play on the field.
They continue to prove to be champions off it, as well.