Babineaux, Falcons gives thanks to the community

Falcons defensive tackle Jonathan Babineaux is a tireless worker on the field and off it, especially during the holidays.

“I do what I can do,” Babineaux said.

Thanksgiving is his favorite holiday because it marks the start of the holiday season.

“The holidays are always a tough time of the year,” Babineaux said. “That’s when people who are less fortunate would want things to go smooth and have a good day, as far as Thanksgiving and Christmas. This time of the year is when you try to give back and do as much as you can for the less fortunate.”

On Sunday, Babineaux plans to give thanks and help raise awareness for the medical, financial and treatment needs of children who need prosthetic limbs. He will host kids from Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta’s Limb Deficiency Program at Sunday’s game against the Cardinals as they’ll join “Babineaux’s Unit” in a section at the Georgia Dome.

“I’m just thankful for life,” Babineaux said. “I’m thankful for the position that I’m in when I can give back and help others.”

Babineaux has donated or worked with more than 84 charities and has impacted the lives of more than 3,660 under-served, medically fragile, less fortunate citizens of metro Atlanta area.

His goal to hit 95, his jersey number.

“I think it impacts us all the same way,” Babineaux said. “I think it makes us all feel better when we do something good for somebody else who is appreciative of the simple things.”

While he looks forward to meeting the kids after the game, he doesn’t keep a personal track of his volunteer work.

“I don’t keep count like that, but I just try to do as much as I can while I’m able to do it,” Babineaux said. “Especially using the platform from being a player. I’ve been able to use that to my advantage, and I wish I were able to do more and have other people do the same thing that I’m doing.”

Babineaux donated more than $100,000 to charities in Atlanta and Port Arthur, Texas, his hometown, including Thanksgiving turkey giveaways and other donations.

Babineaux normally performs his volunteer work on Tuesdays, which is his only off day of the week during the NFL season. He also donates pro bono national and regional publicity/media-relations services to a few foundations to help raise awareness for their respective causes and fund raising initiatives.

Babineaux was selected by the Falcons to serve as the United Way’s TEAM NFL representative. United Way’s TEAM NFL is a volunteer group of civic-minded NFL players committed to helping United Way in its effort to recruit one million volunteer readers, tutors and mentors — a key strategy for cutting the high school dropout rate in half.

Other Falcons were out in the community this week, too.

Cornerback Desmond Trufant provided a catered Thanksgiving meal to 124 men from the Shepherd’s Inn, the men’s facility of the Atlanta Mission on Monday.

He served food, signed autographs and took photos.

Established in 1938, Atlanta Mission provides overnight shelter, job-attainment programming, long‐term residential discipleship programming and transitional housing for more than 950 homeless men, women and children daily.

Also, the Atlanta Falcons Rookie Club served Thanksgiving lunch to homeless Tuesday at Crossroads Community Ministries for the sixth consecutive year.

Each year, Crossroads Community Ministries serves over 74,000 meals to over 4,300 homeless men, women and children.

Also, special-teams players were active.

Kicker Matt Bryant, punter Matt Bosher and long snapper Josh Harris provided a catered Thanksgiving meal to 300 women and children from My Sister’s House, the women’s and children’s facility of the Atlanta Mission, on Tuesday.