A Philly Special Christmas — the Philadelphia Eagles charity project featuring Jason Kelce, Jordan Mailata, and Lane Johnson — has been an unexpected success. Via The Inquirer:
Just as the Eagles earned the NFC’s top seed and are now a victory away from the Super Bowl, A Philly Special Christmas has reached #1 on Billboard’s compilation albums chart.
The $75 green vinyl LP sold out of three pressings. This month, it was announced the project had raised $250,000 for the Children’s Crisis Treatment Center, who initially aimed to use the proceeds for a toy drive. They will also be able to fund a summer camp now.
But as impressive as all that is, the quarter-of-a-million figure represents only a fraction of what the album has gone on to raise. Because now that proceeds are in from sales of the third pressing of the LP — which was much larger than the first two — the number has grown to five times that amount.
Just because I hate football as a sport doesn’t mean I don’t love the Eagles. (It’s a Philly thing!) And I just love people who not only care about humanity, but go out of their way to help. (By the way, the album is pretty good.)
Here’s one of the things that warm my heart: The proceeds will also be used to pay off ALL the Donors Choose wishlists for Philadelphia schoolteachers — we’re one of the poorest districts in the country! (I predict an Abbott Elementary episode will be coming out of this.)
Money is also going to the Center for Black Educator Development, the Philadelphia Midwife Collective, Bartram’s Garden (one of my favorite places), Ars Nova Workshop, Mighty Writers, Prevention Point and Canine Partners for Life.
Fly, Eagles, fly! Good luck tomorrow!
