By Jim Gehman, Player Engagement Insider
He may have been raised in South Florida, but Washington Redskins wide receiver Pierre Garçon considers Haiti, where his parents and siblings were born, to be his home too.
Since being drafted by the Indianapolis Colts out of Mount Union in 2008, Garçon has taken it upon himself to help others, and as a rookie, founded the Pierre Garçon Helping Hands Foundation.
“I’d always wanted to help out the community and do something to give back,” Garçon said, “Definitely to my church and the area I grew up in because they taught me how to play football; they kept me out of trouble with afterschool programs.”
When Haiti was hit by an earthquake in 2010, Garçon raised money to help and began making mission trips to bring awareness to the challenging living conditions that the Haitians dealt with.
“After the earthquake, it was like, oh, shoot, we really have to do something now,” Garçon said. “We have to help out now. This is urgent. So, we basically organized it and made it happen. [My goal to help the people was to] provide anything to make their lives a little bit easier. From having Wi-Fi to a place to go to school to a place to play sports, just have that opportunity to do things that we have here. Just help out anyway that I can be effective. That’s the main goal, really, to be effective.
“A way I want people to help me is to just take a trip to Haiti and see it firsthand. It’s always great to help out financially, but at the end of the day, if you go see it, you’ll be touched and you’ll be more effective. You’ll feel a lot different from just signing a check or giving money. If you actually go there and experience it for two days, you’ll remember it for the rest of your life.”
On October 4, 2016, the Haitians experienced more tragedy when Hurricane Matthew, a category four storm, caused widespread damage and took hundreds of lives.
Five days later, after helping the Redskins defeat the Baltimore Ravens, Garçon hung up his helmet and shoulder pads and went to work. Gathering medical supplies, bottled water and other things that could be helpful, he flew to Haiti and delivered the goods to Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince.
“The things that we brought, the hospital employees were appreciative because they could do more now and help more of the patients,” Garçon said. “That was one of the fulfilling feelings that we had when we left because we were helping the doctors that were helping the people, which is going that much farther to helping the whole country and everybody that was affected by the hurricane.
“Somebody made an effective change in my life and I want to just keep passing that on. It’s a great feeling. I’m just happy that I can help and be effective.”
The nine-year veteran – four seasons with Indianapolis and five with Washington – has been effective around the District of Columbia, as well. In 2013, he began the Pierre Garçon All-White Party to benefit the Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Washington. The annual event has raised nearly $400,000.
“After my first year here, the Boys and Girls Club was on the verge of shutting down because of financial reasons,” Garçon said. “Everybody loved the Boys and Girls Club; everybody knows about the Boys and Girls Club and knows that they do good work. I definitely didn’t want that to happen, so I thought about doing an event that would help raise money for them to keep their doors open. Really, it was basically as simple as that.
“I had to come up with a unique way to encourage people to come to the event. I knew all of my teammates would come because they always support, so it was kind of a win-win situation.”
Due to his charitable contributions in Washington and Haiti, and because of all the time he volunteers to the Redskins Charitable Foundation, the team chose Garçon as their nominee for the annual Walter Payton NFL Man of the Year Award, which recognizes a player for the commitment he has demonstrated in helping others in the community.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Garçon said. “It’s amazing just to be in the same sentence as Walter Payton. It’s an accomplishment in itself. And for the team to vote and the community to vote, it’s definitely one of those great feelings that you’ll tell people down the road when you’re done playing football.”