HUNTINGTON, W. Va. – Chad Pennington, NFL veteran and Marshall University alumnus, remains an important figure to many people in the Tri-State area.

Pennington, who led the MU football program to many years of success in the 90s, maintains a relationship with Huntington and the Tri-State area through his charity, the 1ST and 10 Foundation, as well as donating his time to other worthy causes, such as the Huntington Area Habitat for Humanity.

“Sometimes we take the simple things for granted, such as food and shelter,” Pennington explained. “As fellow citizens, we must understand there is a need to fight hunger in our own country and not just abroad.”

The 1ST and 10 Foundation was created in 2003 to fund programs in order to raise the quality of life for those in need.  In addition to the Tri-State area, the foundation also helps citizens in East Tennessee and South Florida.  According to the foundation’s Web site, it has now given out over $500,000 in grant money to worthy organizations.

“The people of the Tri-State area helped mold me into the man I am today,” Pennington stated. ”I can never repay them but want to give back to show my appreciation.”

Recently, Pennington has donated his time to help the Empty Bowls event in Huntington.  The event, sponsored by the MU W. Page Pitt School of Journalism and Mass Communications (SOJMC) and students from MU Department of Art and Design in the College of Fine Arts’ Keramos Student Potter’s Guild, helps raise awareness to the hunger problem in our local area.  The event includes a soup lunch, handcrafted bowls and a silent auction featuring items donated by Pennington and other donors.  

Pennington, who is a graduate of the SOJMC, remembers his time at MU fondly.

“The journalism school prepared me for some of the challenges of the NFL and taught me how to be a professional,” he explained about his time at MU.

In the past, Pennington signed a bowl that was then sold during the silent auction.  For this year’s event, he has donated an autographed football and a photograph.

The sixth annual Empty Bowls event is 10:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., April 7th, at First Presbyterian Church, 1015 Fifth Ave., Huntington, W. Va. All proceeds benefit the Huntington Area Food Bank.

“I had an amazing experience as a student-athlete in the southern West Virginia area while attending Marshall,” Pennington added.

For more information about the HAFB, please contact Brooke Ash at (304) 523-6029 or e-mail hafbmail@hafb.org. For more information regarding the Empty Bowls event, call Campaign Director Meagan Sellards at (304) 412-5900 or e-mail emptybowls@marshall.edu. Erica Rife, the media representative, can be reached at (304) 360-3394 or e-mail emptybowls@marshall.edu.

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The Huntington Area Food Bank, Inc., is a private, nonprofit, charitable organization affiliated with Feeding America, the largest hunger relief agency in the United States. The HAFB is the hub in a network of food donors and more than 290 agencies that serve hungry people in West Virginia, eastern Kentucky and southeastern Ohio. The HAFB assists food pantries, soup kitchens, emergency shelters, senior citizens programs, youth programs and residential programs that directly serve the needs of the hungry. The HAFB member agencies are located in 17 counties throughout the Tri-State area. All member agencies served by the HAFB are private and nonprofit. For more information, please visit www.hafb.org.