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After his season-long protest against racial injustice in the United States drew widespread attention when people noticed the then-49ers quarterback was kneeling during the national anthem, Colin Kaepernick backed up his stance by pledging to donate to charities that help communities in need. Kaepernick recently made two more donations that totaled $100,000.
According to NFL Networkâs Ian Rapoport, Kaepernick donated $50,000 to Meals on Wheels and Love Army For Somalia.
As Colin Kaepernick waits for a job opportunity, he continues to donate to charity. His latest includes $50K for Meals on Wheels pic.twitter.com/j5ERyWpSz2
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 21, 2017
Thank you @Kaepernick7 for supporting seniors through your words and actions.https://t.co/2PBpeWh5lC
— Meals on Wheels (@_MealsOnWheels) March 21, 2017
Last week, Kaepernick began helping Love Army For Somalia by raising money to fly food and water to people there.
As for his Meals on Wheels contribution, it comes at a time when the program, which delivers food to homebound seniors, is receiving more donations than usual after it was reported that President Donald Trumpâs proposed budget would negatively impact it. The Trump administration has denied that Meals on Wheels would be cut.
Kaepernick is currently a free agent. Given heâs better than recently signed quarterbacks like Brian Hoyer, Mike Glennon and Josh McCown, itâs possible that his protest is playing a role in his inability to land a contract during the first two weeks of free agency. One AFC general manager told Bleacher Report last week that some teams are avoiding Kaepernick because they âfear the backlash from fansâ and âthey think there might be protests or [President Donald] Trump will tweet about the team.â He added that others âgenuinely hate him and canât stand what he did [kneeling for the national anthem].â
On Monday night, Trump took a few shots at Kaepernick:
âAnd you know, your San Francisco quarterback,â Trump said, via TMZ (by way of PFT). âIâm sure nobody ever heard of him. Iâm just reporting the news. There was an article today â I love to report the news and then they said I made a mistake, right? I said, âNo, the people reporting the news made a mistake if itâs wrong.â But there was an article today, it was reported that NFL owners donât want to pick him up because they donât want to get a nasty tweet from Donald Trump. Do you believe that? I just saw that. I just saw that. I said if I remember that one Iâm gonna report it to the people of the Kentucky. Because they like it when people actually stand for the American flag.â
According to ESPNâs Adam Schefter, Kaepernick wonât continue to kneel during the national anthem.
Meanwhile, his former coach Jim Harbaugh revealed that heâs been contacted by NFL teams about Kaepernick. Harbaugh told those teams that Kaepernick can still be great and win championships.
