Robert Kraft has gone above and beyond to help others throughout the COVID-19 pandemic.
The New England Patriots owner, a year ago Wednesday, sent one of the team planes to China at the start of COVID-19 pandemic to transport N95 face masks for medical and emergency workers on the front lines in Massachusetts at the request of Gov. Charlie Baker.
Then in January, Kraft offered up Gillette Stadium, which opened up as the Commonwealth’s first mass vaccination site.
Surely, a man as charitable as Kraft didn’t do these good deeds for the publicity, but he does hope he made his late wife Myra proud.
“A year ago today we sent our Patriots team plane to China to try to expedite the delivery of 1,200,000 respirator masks,” Kraft told reporters during a conference call Wednesday, per the team.
“I’m pretty proud that we are the first site in the Northeast to be licensed to give vaccinations and as of today, we have given over 300,000 vaccinations at our site. A lot of our fans have gotten them and I’ve gotten some beautiful letters from people, how it’s impacted their lives and their psyches. I just thought of my sweetheart Myra. She thought it was a little nuts when I paid so much for a team that was losing money. I told her that if we did a good job that we would be able to impact our community in ways that just giving a donation couldn’t happen. So, I hope she’s smiling right now and I hope we all have a much better year and I truly hope that we have our herd immunity so we have a full stadium and get back to normal.”
Myra Kraft, beloved by Patriots players over the years, passed away in 2011 of ovarian cancer.
