Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Children’s charity receives surprise donations

A Hampton Roads children’s charity was on the receiving end Sunday of a surprise celebration.

The Kam Cares Foundation is a youth-serving nonprofit organization founded by Norfolk native and former Virginia Tech Hokie star Kam Chancellor, now a player with the NFL’s Seattle Seahawks.

Established in 2012, the foundation aims to provide for children from underserved communities in the Hampton Roads and Seattle, Washington, areas.

Sunday at Town Point Park in Norfolk, Nathan’s Famous and Kroger teamed up to provide the Foundation with a year’s worth of hot dogs and $2,000 in gift cards.

“Our foundation believes that the act of paying it forward will lead to a widespread community impact,” said Cornel Parker, president of the Kam Cares Foundation. “We are incredibly grateful for organizations like Nathan’s Famous and Kroger, who recognize the work we do and offer their support so that we can help provide opportunities for children who need it the most.”

Kam Cares works to equip children with educational, health, and wellness tools as well as resources to position them for greater academic success.

Cornel Parker, president of the Kam Cares Foundation, left, and Diane Purnell, Brand Manager, Nathan’s Famous, and Wendi Adams, Meat and Seafood Sales Manager, Kroger, at Sunday's presentation (Southside Daily photo/Courtesy of Nathan's Famous)
Cornel Parker, president of the Kam Cares Foundation, left, and Diane Purnell, Brand Manager, Nathan’s Famous, and Wendi Adams, Meat and Seafood Sales Manager, Kroger, at Sunday’s presentation (HNNDaily photo/Courtesy of Nathan’s Famous)

“Nathan’s Famous, along with our friends at Kroger, are proud to continue our efforts in recognizing organizations that provide essential tools and resources for children in order to help them develop and find future success,” said Michael Paribello, Smithfield Food senior director of marketing. “This gift to the Kam Cares Foundation is a small sign of our appreciation for all the work they’ve done to support youth in both the Hampton Roads and Seattle communities.”

Smithfield Foods is the licensee of Nathan’s Famous pre-packaged hot dogs, selling a wide variety of beef franks at more than 20,000 supermarkets and wholesale club stores across the country.

John Mangalonzo
John Mangalonzohttp://wydaily.com
John Mangalonzo (john@localdailymedia.com) is the managing editor of Local Voice Media’s Virginia papers – WYDaily (Williamsburg), Southside Daily (Virginia Beach) and HNNDaily (Hampton-Newport News). Before coming to Local Voice, John was the senior content editor of The Bellingham Herald, a McClatchy newspaper in Washington state. Previously, he served as city editor/content strategist for USA Today Network newsrooms in St. George and Cedar City, Utah. John started his professional journalism career shortly after graduating from Lyceum of The Philippines University in 1990. As a rookie reporter for a national newspaper in Manila that year, John was assigned to cover four of the most dangerous cities in Metro Manila. Later that year, John was transferred to cover the Philippine National Police and Armed Forces of the Philippines. He spent the latter part of 1990 to early 1992 embedded with troopers in the southern Philippines as they fought with communist rebels and Muslim extremists. His U.S. journalism career includes reporting and editing stints for newspapers and other media outlets in New York City, California, Texas, Iowa, Utah, Colorado and Washington state.

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