For the past seven years, Houston Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson has been more than just “that guy who is really awesome at football,” as each December he foots the bill for a dozen underprivileged and at-risk kids to go crazy in a toy store for 80 seconds. Yesterday, 12 more kids hand selected by Child Protective Services stepped into a Toys ‘R’ Us, and with the help of Johnson and a dozen Texans cheerleaders, they grabbed all the toys they could in the time allotted. The grand total charged to Johnson? $17,352.
While that falls short of the $19,000+ bill that he paid last year, it still doesn’t change just how awesome everything about this story is.
We can joke around about every story that we come across, but hearing these kids talk about how they target gifts for their siblings before stuff for themselves just turns me into a pile of mush.
“I think he’s awesome for doing this,” one of the participants, Arlyssa, said after picking up her dream Christmas list. “I like toys and shopping.”
“I think I was a little bit more into than she was,” Houston Texans Cheerleader Gelesann joked. “It was so much fun. We’re so thankful to have players like Andre on our team.”
Similar to the way the Texans prepare to face an opposing team, many of the children had scoped out the area and formulated a game plan. Not surprising to Johnson, all of the kids made a point to grab gifts for their siblings, as well.
“The kids have done that every year,” Johnson said. “That’s big of them. That just shows there in a blessed situation to come and get whatever they want, and they’re not just thinking of themselves. That’s a great deed by them.”
“It’s the holiday season, it’s time for giving. People who know me know I have a good heart and like to give back and help people out. That’s just why I do what I do.” (Via the Houston Texans)
I hope they all picked up some Hulk hands, because those things are awesome.
(Image via Imgur)
