Last week, Peter King honored Roads of Hope Founder and Director Dr. Joe Savage with the Jason Jenkins Award. Dr. Savage was recognized for his work in Central and Eastern Europe and how he used a football game to encourage and support refugees and orphans during a camp this past summer not far from war-torn Ukraine.
Peter King is a prominent sportswriter, well-known for his weekly column, Football Morning in America on NBC Sports. Each week, King gives the Jason Jenkins Award to recognize someone with ties to the NFL for their good work. King heard about Dr. Savage’s work as a result of Roads of Hope team members being at the New York Jets game last week. During the week 3 NFL game, the Jets honored the country of Ukraine by featuring the Ukrainian flag on their helmets and in their end zones. Dr. Savage’s brother, Phil Savage, is the Senior Football Advisor for the Jets.
King writes:
The Jason Jenkins Award: Joe Savage, founder/director, Roads of Hope. Savage, the brother of longtime NFL scout (and former Browns GM) Phil Savage, runs Roads of Hope, an independent agency that since 2015 has been rescuing orphans and young people who would be trafficked in Ukraine and Moldova. He and his other Roads of Hope counselors taught American football to a group of kids the group was helping and split them into two teams—the Jets and Bengals. They played a football game in the small country of Moldova. “They’d never seen football in their lives,” said Monty Lobb, a Roads of Hope board member. Watch some of the highlights here.
Phil Savage is now a senior football adviser with the Jets. His brother’s doing some meaningful work where it’s desperately needed, and it looks like Joe Savage is having some fun doing it.
Read the full article by Peter King here. (Skip to the Award section to read about Roads of Hope.)
You can see highlights of the game that started it all here.
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