An animal shelter in Kansas City, Missouri, is now completely empty thanks to a football player’s generous gift.
All of the adoptable dogs at the Petco Adoption Center recently found their forever homes after Kansas City Chiefs defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi paid their adoption fees, according to WBAL.
Thursday, the KC Pet Project shared a photo of the empty kennels on its Facebook page:
Nnadi’s kind-hearted gesture was in celebration of his team’s recent Super Bowl LIV win in Miami, Florida, according to Breitbart News.
Wednesday, Ellen Degeneres praised the football player on Twitter for his decision:
As a young boy, his father taught him that it was a family tradition to give back to their neighbors, according to the Derrick Nnadi Foundation’s website.
“The foundation aims to cultivate positive change in people’s lives, inspire children and families through meaningful interactions, and assist those in need,” its mission statement read.
Paying adoption fees for all the dogs in the city was something he had always wanted to do, Nnadi said Friday during an interview on Hallmark Channel’s Home & Family:
“I think personally, I’m a dog person, and I got two dogs of my own. A pit bull named Rocky about two years, and a bully named Saint who’s about a year and a couple months,” Nnadi said.
“Saint, the name’s kind of backward because he just has so much energy and sometimes I can’t control them two because, say they get happy when they see me, I’m practically getting jumped with all their love. Man, it’s crazy,” he commented.
The Super Bowl champion also noted that it made him feel good to be able to help dogs in the area find loving homes where they could be part of a family.
“It means a lot to me, it means the world to me,” he concluded.