He is a member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame and known as one of the greatest wide receivers of all time, but this holiday season, Viking legend Cris Carter is also known as something else, a kid who once needed help.
On Saturday, Dec. 14, Carter shook hands and took pictures with local families at the Xfinity store in Eagan as part of the Stuff the Sleigh charity toy drive, a partnership between the Salvation Army, Comcast and KSTP. Carter said he is no stranger to being on the receiving end of help during the holidays.
“My mom had seven kids before the age of 25,” Carter explained. “The Salvation Army was there for us.”
The holiday help comes at a good time, as many Minnesota families are struggling to pay for food, let alone gifts. According to a 2024 report from Greater Twin Cities United Way, 36% or 834,343 households in Minnesota live paycheck to paycheck. This number includes 233,779 households in poverty. Additionally, data from the Salvation Army shows child poverty more than doubled from 2021 to 2022.
“Sometimes it’s food, sometimes it’s clothes, sometimes it’s spiritual,” Carter explained. “Those are all the things we got from the Salvation Army when I was a kid. So, my partnership with them is based on what they did for us.”
As part of the Stuff the Sleigh campaign, hundreds of toys have been collected at 15 Xfinity store locations throughout the Twin Cities. The toys will be distributed to local families in need, specifically infants to teens aged 14.
To celebrate the campaign, the Xfinity store in Eagan decked out in purple and invited Carter, who was in town for the Vikings Monday night game against the Chicago Bears.
“To hear him (Carter) talk about paying it forward because of the services he got when he was a kid, that’s really special,” said Stacey Nelson-Kumar, director of community impact at Comcast. “This is our first time doing Stuff the Sleigh, and it has been a resounding success.”
A large barrel in the Eagan store overflowed with toys. Nelson-Kumar says the bins are sometimes emptied twice a day at each of the stores, reflecting the generosity of the community. The Salvation Army is one of the largest providers of toys to children who may not otherwise receive a gift during the holidays.
The Salvation Army set the need at 16,000 toys for Twin Cities children this year. The organization describes on its website how the gifts benefit people like Jonathan, a recipient last year and St. Paul resident with two young daughters living on limited income after his hours were cut on his construction job. “Now we can put something under the tree so they can wake up on Christmas morning with a smile on their face,” Jonathan said.
Carter added that the goal is letting kids know there are people out there who care about them. “I’m just trying to make sure other young people can reach their destination in life the way I was able to,” Carter said. “We’re going to do exceptional things through them. Even though they have adversity, they can still reach the best version of themselves.”