By Lisa Zimmerman, Player Engagement Insider
For Vincent Jackson, the military is part of his DNA. Jackson’s parents, Terence and Sherry, met when both were in the Army, with his father making it his career and retiring after 21 years as a first sergeant. Jackson was born in Fort Polk, Louisiana and the family moved several times, including to Germany for three years, accommodating Terence’s various assignments and deployments, ultimately making Colorado their home.
Jackson a three-time Pro Bowl wide receiver who plays for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers (currently on injured reserve) remembers those days well. While he was always able to make friends, moving around a lot wasn’t easy. And on the occasions when his father was deployed, it was just him and his mother navigating everyday life. One thing that was a constant was their involvement in the community and giving back.
“I’ve been very philanthropic since my childhood,” Jackson said. “We were always involved in our community. My father encouraged doing community service on the weekend. We’d do 5K runs together. It’s something I’ve always been around. My parents are about giving back so it was engrained in me.”
So, it was a natural step for Jackson, once he was in the NFL, to start his own 501(c)(3) foundation and the focus was always clear – helping members of the military and their families. Jackson knows first-hand the struggles and challenges faced by military families, especially when they are separated. The Jackson in Action 83 Foundation’s mission is to provide assistance in dealing with those challenges. In 2015, Jackson was the recipient of the NFL’s Salute to Service Award presented by USAA.
“We all support the men and women who are serving, but what about the families back home”” Jackson said. “How are they getting supported? How are these deployments affecting marriages, kids? There’s a high divorce rate especially with the war. Kids are struggling in school through the deployment. We wanted to build a platform that would bridge the gap when people are separated through space and time. The person on deployment wants to know their family is being supported.”
To that end, Jackson’s foundation, which he runs with his wife, Lindsey VanDeweghe, offers a variety of programs and resources, created specifically for the needs of those families. Many of programs focus on education, the importance of which was something entrenched in Jackson by his own parents.
Jackson provides a real-life example of education to those children he works with. In addition to graduating from the University of Northern Colorado with a 4.1 GPA, Jackson has made his own continuing education a priority, including attending the NFL’s Business Management and Entrepreneurial Program at the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business.
“Our staple programs are the reading program which encourages third to fifth graders to improve their literacy, their reading skills,” Jackson said. “Once a month we interact with three elementary schools and pick a few kids from each who have shown dedication to their work. They come out to the Buccaneers facility and do a tour. Then at the end of the year we do one big banquet and bring back every kid who was selected.”
“One of the best things we do is our baby shower. We do it every fall before I go to camp. It’s either for a couple who just had a kid or are expecting. We bring 40 families out. Many are moms who are there by themselves because their husbands have been deployed. We get so many great sponsors. Each couple got almost $2000 worth of gear.”
While the foundation holds fundraisers, and accepts donations, Jackson funds a lot of the programs himself. He takes pride in the fact that he has honored his own parents with his efforts.
“My parents value the fact that I show so much love and support for the military and stick to my roots,” Jackson said. “It reassures them that I did embrace that experience. Going to new schools, making new friends, all those things really stuck with me and it makes them proud that that lifestyle that they may have been concerned about, I turned it into a positive.”
Lisa Zimmerman is a long-time NFL writer and reporter. She was the Jets correspondent for CBSSports.com, SportsNet New York’s TheJetsBlog.com and Sirius NFL Radio. She has also written for NFL.com.