That’s why, Kraft believes, the Pats became the first organization in the NFL to contractually demand that each of its players stay active in the community. Since Kraft bought the team in 1994, each player has it in their contract that he is to perform at least 10 community appearances for non-financial gain per season.
On Thursday at Gillette Stadium, Kraft held his favorite event, awarding 21 New Englanders as winners of the 2010 Community MVP Awards. The recipients each received a donation toward their non-profit organization.
"This event is actually my favorite of everything," Kraft said. "We're helping support organizations throughout New England [that] have the best volunteers in the region doing things that are thankless for many people, probably underappreciated in these economic times."
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick was on hand with running back Kevin Faulk, who was recently honored by the organization for his charitable work, and Patriots Hall of Fame linebacker Andre Tippett.
"It's certainly nice to be a part of an event like this that recognizes people that give so much into the community unselfishly," Belichick said. "I know they're not doing it to get a lot of attention, but they certainly deserve it.
"We believe in this. It's certainly one of the hallmarks of our organization that Mr. Kraft and his family support, and we all feel that way about it as well."
Faulk was the winner of the Patriots' 2009 Ron Burton Community Service Award, and he held his annual softball game for charity earlier this month.
"It’s really important to see the different type of people, the different type of organizations," Faulk said. "One main thing for me is learning, observing, seeing how things are being done, what type of organizations they have. A lot of the stuff they have here is not back home, where I’m from. To learn and bring it back home is something different."
And while the Patriots are contractually obligated to be prominent members in the community, Faulk said they all really enjoy that responsibility. Faulk, though, doesn’t like to receive any credit for his part.
"I'm very quiet," Faulk said. "I love doing things for other people. That’s how my mother raised me. That’s how I came up, so it's nothing new to me. It comes natural."
