Todd "TJ" Duckett is best known to football fans in Michigan for his heroics as a
running back for the Michigan State Spartans. He went on to spend
seven seasons in the NFL. Though he travelled the nation as a professional football player, his roots are in southwest Michigan, and he returned here on a rainy day in November to give back to our local community.
"There came a point where I no longer enjoyed playing football," the Kalamazoo native told the Comstock Green Meadow students. "I wasn't passionate about it... I learned that service and helping was what my new life mission was all about."
Duckett has realized that passion through the
New World Flood organization. The idea behind the "flood" is that it is made of individual raindrops, and that each act of service and giving is a raindrop which hopefully leads to a flood of community service and giving.
Duckett's organization teamed up with Mid-Michigan Wendy's restaurants to collect coats for children in the area. They collected over 600 coats, and brought 75 of those to share with Green Meadow students.
He also helped to tie in the principles of the Leader in Me program which Green Meadow has introduced this year. He asked students to identify the 7 habits, and talked about how those habits have helped him achieve success in life.
Duckett autographed toy footballs, and presented them to students whose name was drawn at random, and then spend some time signing autographs and answering questions in several of the classrooms.
Thank you so much, Todd Duckett, for sharing your time with Green Meadow, and for helping to put winter coats on the backs of our students. Your partnership with Wendy's, and your commitment to flood the world through raindrops of service and giving are an inspiration.