Darius Slayton’s mother, Pamela, typically instructed her son if he “ever made any money,” he’d higher keep in mind to present again.
“We actually ended up getting to that point a little faster than we thought,” Slayton, 27, stated with a smile within the Giants’ locker room lately.
So Slayton took his mother’s recommendation, and now he’s the Giants’ nominee for the 2024 Walter Payton NFL Man of the Yr award as a consequence of his quite a few and significant contributions to the neighborhood.
“It means a lot for the organizations I work with to be in the spotlight,” he stated. “So I’m happy about that.”
Slayon is energetic in New York and New Jersey, in his hometown of Atlanta and in his dad and mom’ hometowns of Jackson, Ala., and Osceola, Ark.
Regionally, he has invested himself deeply within the improvement of the New York Police Division-led Far Rockaway, Harlem and Bronx Giants program that was began in 2020 below former head coach Joe Choose.
This system’s objective is to enhance police-community relations whereas offering youth with tutorial sources and steerage as they purpose to graduate highschool and faculty.
Slayton’s preliminary outreach occurred on Zoom because the COVID-19 pandemic hit. Now, it’s expanded from one borough to 3.
Slayton has personally supplied greater than $100,000 price of funding and sources to assist 150 boys throughout 20 colleges, and he has labored to lift much more.
These college students have accomplished 1,080 hours of after-school tutoring annually below the supervision of 30 NYPD officers operating the applications.
And since its inception, no college students have needed to repeat a grade or take summer season faculty, whereas greater than 15 boys have graduated onto highschool.
“It’s crazy that we’re in two other boroughs now with our program because at the time, we couldn’t even see people in person,” Slayton stated. “We were just on Zoom because we started this during Covid.
“We never actually met the officers, met any of the kids, nothing,” he added. “We just would call in. So it felt like it was a thing but almost like a thing way over there. You couldn’t actually get face to face with somebody.
“So,” Slayton stated, “the fact that it came to life now and expanded to two other boroughs — and the NYPD and State of New York are working to get us to all five — is pretty awesome.”
Introduced by Nationwide, the NFL Man of the Yr award is known as for late Corridor of Fame Chicago Bears operating again Walter Payton, who died in 1999. The award acknowledges an NFL participant for excellent neighborhood service actions off the sector in addition to excellence on the sector.
Every of the 32 groups has a Man of the Yr who’s eligible to win the league award.
The winner might be introduced through the NFL Honors awards present on Feb. 6 in New Orleans previous to Tremendous Bowl LIX. Pittsburgh Steelers defensive deal with Cameron Heyward received final 12 months.
Quarterback Eli Manning is the one Large ever to obtain the award in its 54-year historical past as a 2016 co-winner alongside Arizona Cardinals broad receiver Larry Fitzgerald.
Every nominee will obtain as much as $55,000, and the award winner will obtain as much as a $265,000 donation to their charity of alternative.
Slayton will get so concerned for a pair causes. For one, his dad and mom impressed the significance of giving again from a younger age, whether or not it was visiting the aged or serving to these in want.
“If there were sick or shut-in elderly at our church, my parents would always make sure to go and visit, whether it be at their homes or nursing homes,” Slayton stated. “We had some elderly neighbors in the neighborhood, and my sister and [I] would check on people or see how they were doing, just making sure they were OK.”
Eddie Slayton, Darius’ dad, gave his son for following that instance and taking it a step additional.
“As parents, you try to set the right example for your children and it’s up to them the degree to which they take it and how far they’re willing to go with it,” he instructed the Giants. “We’ve expressed many times how proud we are of him.”
The opposite cause Slayton cares a lot is as a result of he is aware of what it’s prefer to be on the opposite facet.
Throughout the 2008 recession, the Slaytons misplaced their house. They moved into an condominium and relied on the assistance of others to fill some fundamental wants. It was a life change that influenced the long run Giants receiver in a serious means.
“I think it put a determination in him,” Pamela Slayton stated. “He later told me, ‘Mom, I don’t ever want to see that look on your face again.’ I don’t remember what look I had, but I guess he saw some sadness or whatever. It built in him a determination to fight through and to never see his family in that situation again.”
So Slayton stated this may at all times be part of who he’s.
In 2022, he began the ‘The Left-Hand Right-Hand Foundation, and his mother is the executive director. The Christian-based organization helps economically underserved communities with a focus on serving the youth and elderly.
His foundation annually hosts a free youth football camp in Atlanta and provides meals and household items to families during the holidays.
In addition, Slayton was recently named the Week 16 NFLPA Community MVP for contributing $50,000 to provide gifts and household needs to 24 New York families raised through his LHRH Foundation’s occasions.
He additionally hosted a Dec. 9 third annual vacation reward giveaway for eight underprivileged households within the three boroughs of Far Rockaway, Harlem and the Bronx Giants.
Plus, he hosts an annual automobile present in Queens attended by greater than 50 drivers, an occasion he created for children to study potential profession paths outdoors of soccer. And he additionally has labored with the Giants to develop the sport of women flag soccer at subject days.
“As long as you’re able, you should help, you should give, you should try to help other people do better, those types of things,” Slayton stated. “That will always be something that’s part of my life.”
Of being nominated, Slayton stated his response to the “tremendous honor” was “hard to even put into words.”
“[Former Rams tackle] Andrew Whitworth won [in 2021], and I remember he got up there and was telling a story about one of his last years in the league,” Slayton recalled. “He said a guy came up to him and [said], ‘I was one of those kids at the Boys and Girls Club and I made it big.’
“To me,” Slayton continued, “that’s the ultimate. There’s not really much you could do in your career … that would top that, having someone come up and say, ‘You inspired me and here I am.’ Even if it wasn’t the NFL, that would be the biggest accomplishment in the world.”
