While a bunch of first round picks where on site and in the building Thursday night for the opening round of the 2021 NFL Draft, Najee Harris was at a homeless shelter, and the meaning behind the move makes it hard not to root for this guy moving forward.
The former Alabama star RB hosted his draft party at the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program (GRIP), the place that he, his parents and his four siblings called home for several years during his upbringing.
Whatever team drafts Alabama's Najee Harris is getting a special person. Today he threw a draft party for kids at the homeless shelter where he lived for several years growing up. He told me it was emotional the first time he went back to visit. @kron4news #NFLDraft #RollTide pic.twitter.com/JadBIFh4pd
— Kylen Mills (@KylenMills) April 30, 2021
“Just to see him as a grown man with this kind of opportunity for him today and to know that he lived in this shelter among many other places their family had to move around and lives as a homeless man just speaks to [the thought that] anything is possible,” Kathleen Sullivan, executive director of the Greater Richmond Interfaith Program, told ABC 7 News.
“There was a time I needed a helping hand. They gave us an opportunity to get back on our feet. So it is my job to give back.”
Returning brought back a lot of stirring memories for Harris and his family. He was in middle school when they stayed at GRIP before his family moved to Antioch.
“It was really emotional for my mom,” Harris said. “Almost as if she was crying, in a way, because we have a lot of memories here. That was a time in my life when it was really low.”
