Oakland native and former NFL star Marshawn Lynch has a long history of giving back to the community where he was raised.
According to social media posts from the last two days, he’s continuing to do so during the coronavirus pandemic.
After visiting Highland Hospital in Oakland to donate masks on Tuesday, Lynch spent his birthday on Wednesday driving around a small cart near Lake Merritt and Pine Knoll Park handing out face coverings.
Yesterday he donated to Highland Hospital today is his Birthday!!! I 😍his heart Happy Birthday @MoneyLynch @MommaLynch24 pic.twitter.com/QjYt5bTS9J
— La (@latrella_jo_) April 22, 2020
It appears most if not all of the face coverings Lynch distributed had his famous “Beast Mode” logo on them.
The distribution of masks come at a time when Gov. Gavin Newsom and state officials are ramping up efforts to ensure hospitals and healthcare providers around the state have ample personal protective equipment to treat coronavirus patients.
So dope pic.twitter.com/MbFWEBCcBF
— Nigerian God (@Echecrates) April 22, 2020
Lynch’s decision to spend Wednesday handing out masks in Oakland coincided with an order from several Bay Area counties including Alameda County requiring face coverings be worn in public.
A tweet from Tuesday indicated Lynch passed out a combined 7,500 masks between the Alameda Food Bank and the Alameda Point Collaborative, which is a supportive housing community that uses its resources to help families and adults break the cycle of homelessness and poverty.
Heres a few I took yesterday too ..Alameda food Bank and Alameda Point Collaborative..7500 masks between both spots .. those are great guys .. Jeremy and Marshawn . pic.twitter.com/7W0XMvIM36
— AK (@AaronK510) April 22, 2020
A graduate of Oakland Tech High and product of UC Berkeley, Lynch dominated the NFL news cycle this winter when he made a surprise return to the Seattle Seahawks backfield ahead of a Week 17 showdown with the San Francisco 49ers.
The game marked Lynch’s first since he came out of retirement in 2017 to play for the Oakland Raiders with the stated hope of giving children in Oakland a chance to see a homegrown star for the local NFL team before it moved to Las Vegas.
Lynch retired for the second time after the 2018 season, when he was nominated by the Raiders for the NFL’s Walter Payton Man of the Year Award, which recognizes an NFL player for outstanding community service activities off the field as well as excellence on the field.
Lynch’s Fam1stFamily Foundation, which he started in 2006, is focused on the under-served youth, “aiming to build new generations of innovative thinkers to create solutions for the future of Oakland and the world.”
