Following his contract extension with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers earlier this year, Mike Evans has shown his commitment to helping others.
The family of Gregory Hill Jr., who tragically lost his life in a shooting involving a St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office deputy, Christopher Newman, in 2014, was only granted $4 by a jury. Upon hearing about this, Evans took to Twitter to inquire about ways to assist the family. Upon discovering a GoFundMe page set up to support them, he made a generous donation of $11,000 on Saturday.
Hill’s family had pursued a wrongful death lawsuit, and after a two-week trial in May of this year, the jury predominantly favored Newman, attributing 99 percent of the blame to Hill for his own death, while deeming the department 1 percent responsible. The jury’s award to the family was a mere $4 – $1 for funeral expenses and $1 for each of Hill’s children. Despite seeking between $500,000 to $10 million in damages, including $11 million for funeral costs, the family was only granted 4 cents in the lawsuit, a mere 1% of the jury’s sum of $4. However, Evans’ significant donation on Saturday substantially boosted the campaign’s total raised funds to nearly $100,000, coming closer to its $150,000 target.
At the age of 24, when Evans signed a five-year extension deal worth $82 million in March, he disclosed his charitable intentions. Together with his wife Ashli, he founded the Mike Evans Family Foundation in 2017. The foundation’s mission is to award scholarships to low-income high school graduates and provide support to women and families affected by domestic violence.
