Barbara Marshall, from left, Shenali Rajaratnam, the founder of ShopNowToFund, Brandon Marshall and North Las Vegas Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Goynes-Brown stand with one of the families who received a FEEL box at North Las Vegas City Hall on Thursday, Jan. 10, 2019.
Sunday, Jan. 13, 2019 | 2 a.m.
Families filled the seats in the council chambers at North Las Vegas City Hall on Thursday, waiting for the Denver Broncos linebacker and 2016 Super Bowl Champion Brandon Marshall to greet them.
Marshall, a Las Vegas native, handed out boxes filled with hygiene supplies, food vouchers and a Samsung tablet loaded with education programs to North Las Vegas families in partnership with Mayor Pro Tem Pamela Goynes-Brown, Shenali Rajaratnam, the founder of ShopNowToFund, and his Broncos teammates.
The boxes were created through Marshall’s Feed & Educate to Empower Leaders, or FEEL, initiative after he saw a need in the local community. He wanted to not only invest financially in his hometown but also put forth time and effort, too.
“I got a heart for my community, I got a heart for my people and you all are my people,” Marshall said, addressing the families. “I’m just a kid from Vegas and I just want to make a change, make a difference, and I’ll continue doing that.”
Marshall remembers living at a local domestic violence shelter for several weeks with his single-parent mother, Barbara. That’s why giving back, especially to Southern Nevada families in a similar situation, is so easy.
“I do understand the struggles that you have gone through, the times where there have been things that you need and you didn’t know where to get them from,” Barbara Marshall said. “This is why I’m so happy to be a part of this program.”
Sixteen families were picked for the program, with 11 of them receiving boxes at the event. They were selected on suggestions from Goynes-Brown, who received feedback from social services as to which families would best benefit.
“Without hesitation, I reached out to several key players in this whole equation, so it wasn’t me by myself,” Goynes-Brown said. “Just being able to give back to the community, I know that’s something that Brandon [Marshall] really enjoys and loves to do.”
This isn’t the only project Marshall has done for North Las Vegas, Goynes-Brown said. She’s worked with him on four separate projects counting this one. The other projects include a youth leadership program, donating funds to the North Las Vegas library and a football camp.
Marshall doesn’t boast about the good he does. He just does what he feels is right without hesitation. He was the second NFL player after Colin Kaepernick — his former UNR teammate — to take a knee during the national anthem to raise awareness of police brutality of blacks, a decision he said cost him two sponsorships.
“I have a certain platform and I want to use that platform for good and not just to play ball, and I love football, but these are the things that change lives,” Marshall said.
As far as Goynes-Brown is concerned, he has done just that. North Las Vegas awarded Marshall with a certificate of appreciation for how the player has used his platform for good.
“It gives me great pride to know that he always wants to come back and give back to the community where he grew up,” Goynes-Brown said. “He’s my hometown hero because he doesn’t have to do this, but for him to be in another state and always want to come back home and do something — that’s big for the community.”
