FedEx Donates $25,000 to Safe Kids Coalitions in New Orleans and Nashville in Recognition of Their Achievements
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| Titans RB Chris Johnson was named the FedEx Ground NFL Player of the Year on Wednesday. |
Brees and Johnson were selected from a panel of three finalists in each of their respective Air and Ground categories. The finalists were chosen by a panel of NFL experts based on the season's fan voting. The other FedEx Air NFL Players of the Year finalists were quarterbacks Peyton Manning of the Indianapolis Colts and Brett Favre of the Minnesota Vikings, while the FedEx Ground NFL Players of the Year finalists included running backs Maurice Jones-Drew of the Jacksonville Jaguars and Adrian Peterson of the Minnesota Vikings.
More than 2,070,665 fan votes were cast at NFL.com from Monday, Jan. 11 through Friday, Jan. 29, to decide the winners.
Former winners of the FedEx Air & Ground NFL Players of the Year Award include:» (2008) New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and Minnesota Vikings RB Adrian Peterson
» (2007) Green Bay Packers QB Brett Favre and Jacksonville Jaguars RB Fred Taylor
» (2006) New Orleans Saints QB Drew Brees and San Diego Chargers RB LaDainian Tomlinson
» (2005) Bengals QB Carson Palmer and Seattle Seahawks RB Shaun Alexander
» (2004) Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning and New York Jets RB Curtis Martin
» (2003) Indianapolis Colts QB Peyton Manning and Green Bay Packers RB Ahman Green
In honor of the winners' outstanding play, FedEx is donating $25,000 to the Safe Kids USA coalitions in New Orleans and Nashville, the local organizations in each player's market.
For the seventh season in a row, the Air & Ground program was a win for the local community. As part of this season's Air & Ground program, FedEx teamed up with Safe Kids USA -– a national non-profit organization that works to prevent accidental injury among children -– to deliver safe kids. Throughout the season, FedEx made weekly $1,000 donations in the names of the Air & Ground NFL Players of the Week to their local Safe Kids coalitions to fund pedestrian safety improvements and education efforts.
To complement the weekly program, FedEx also hosted pedestrian safety clinics with NFL players at a series of elementary schools across the country, to educate students about safety and provide $10,000 in additional funding for each of the local Safe Kids coalitions for community improvements.
In Minneapolis, the coalition's executive board worked with the city's public works department to identify a school that was not only susceptible to speeding, but was receiving 500 additional students for the school year. The FedEx donation of more than $25,000 was used by the local Safe Kids coalition at Plymouth Middle School to install two radar speed signs, updated lighting and safety pylons in the road to slow down traffic near the school.
In San Francisco, the Safe Kids coalition will use its $10,000 in funding to improve pedestrian crosswalks, install flashing pedestrian lights and add "no parking" signs around Fair Oaks Elementary School, an area where a large percentage of students walk to school.
Since 2000, FedEx has donated $12 million to support Safe Kids to help improve pedestrian safety efforts worldwide.
As the Official Delivery Service Sponsor of the NFL, Super Bowl and Pro Bowl, FedEx understands the need for a winning game plan, and created the Air & Ground program to highlight superior on-field performance while delivering safe kids off the field. Because FedEx has thousands of delivery trucks out on the roads each day, the company is committed to funding pedestrian safety improvements through its 10-year partnership with Safe Kids USA.
2009 FEDEX AIR & GROUND NFL PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
Wk 1
Drew Brees, NO
Adrian Peterson, MIN
Wk 2
Drew Brees, NO
Frank Gore, SF
Wk 3
Peyton Manning, IND
Maurice Jones-Drew, JAX
Wk 4
Brett Favre, MIN
Rashard Mendenhall, PIT
Wk 5
Peyton Manning, IND
Cedric Benson, CIN
Wk 6
Drew Brees, NO
Thomas Jones, NYJ
Wk 7
Carson Palmer, CIN
Cedric Benson, CIN
Wk 8
Brett Favre, MIN
Chris Johnson, TEN
Wk 9
Kurt Warner, ARI
Michael Turner, ATL
Wk 10
Brett Favre, MIN
Adrian Peterson, MIN
Wk 11
Brett Favre, MIN
Ricky Williams, MIA
Wk 12
Drew Brees, NO
Chris Johnson, TEN
Wk 13
Kurt Warner, ARI
Correll Buckhalter, DEN
Wk 14
Drew Brees, NO
Ray Rice, BAL
Wk 15
Ben Roethlisberger, PIT
Jerome Harrison, CLE
Wk 16
Jay Cutler, CHI
Jonathan Stewart, CAR
Wk 17
Brett Favre, MIN
Jamaal Charles, KC
JOHNSON'S 2009 SEASON AWARDS
