Former Carrollton Trojan and current New England Patriots cornerback Jonathan Jones was named the NFL Players Association Community MVP for week 12 after hosting a tailgate at his alma mater, Auburn University, to raise funds to combat food insecurity.

“It’s an honor being selected as the NFLPA’s Community MVP recipient,” Jones was quoted in a press release by the NFLPA. “My foundation, the Jonathan Jones Next Step Foundation, has pillars of education, mentorship and building practical life skills. As a professional athlete, it’s important for me to serve the communities that I am playing in.”

According to the release, Jones partnered with Auburn Sustenance to generate enough money to feed 450 local families with meals and snacks on the days that Auburn City Schools were closed for holidays.

The former Trojan and Super Bowl winner also hosted an Auburn campus visit for 10 high school recruits from smaller schools. Jones covered travel, lodging and meals for these students along the way.

Not only did Jones give back to his Auburn roots, but he also traveled back to Boston in the same week. The release states, “He provided holiday dinner for 250 children at the Blue Hill Boys & Girls Club in Boston and also distributed turkeys and frozen meals to 100 more community members.”

Jones is no stranger to active community involvement. His own program, called the Next Step Foundation, was launched in 2019, and it has provided free football camps including a recent stop at Carrollton High School this past June, as well as donating meals for families in need during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The NFLPA release also cited Jones’ work with a group of teenagers from MissionSAFE, an after-school program for high-risk youth in Roxbury, Mass., in which he gifted the teens with brand new sneakers of their own design.

Along with the other eleven winners of the award this season, Jones will now be in the running for the Alan Page Community Award, cited as, “the highest honor that the NFLPA can bestow upon a player.”