With Super Bowl LVI on everyone’s minds, take a look back at a previous Super Bowl where the first Super Bowl title for the New England Patriots led to a children’s home being built in Thailand.
In 2002, the New England Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams during the Super Bowl XXXVI. Playing strong safety for the Patriots was Je’Rod Cherry, who went on to win two other Super Bowl titles with the team.
Fast forward a few years to Momentum Youth Conference in Cedarville, Ohio, in 2008. Students attending the conference were donating funds to build a children’s home with the ministry Asia’s Hope. Je’Rod, whose wife was volunteering at the conference, was stirred to donate towards the project, making the hard decision to auction his Super Bowl XXXVI ring.
The auction of the ring, held at a later point, brought in $180,000, all of it donated to various charities. With the donation from Je’Rod, Asia’s Hope built a home that is still serving the community 15 years later.
Read more of the story in this ESPN article from 2017 and in this GraceConnect article from 2008.