Amid all of the confusion, speculation and conflicting medical reports about the COVID-19 pandemic over the last three months, Roy Miller knew one thing was real — people needed help.
“My mentality is that even if there’s one person that’s struggling, you don’t have enough time to try to figure out who’s right and who’s wrong,” Miller said. “When you see unemployment numbers, 28 million people or something like that applying for unemployment benefits, I just think it’s time to act and figure everything else out a little bit later.”
The former Shoemaker Greywolf, Texas Longhorn and NFL defensive linemen will team with organizations around the community to for Operation Feed Our Neighbors, a food giveaway on Saturday at Grace Christian Church (1401 East Elms Rd.) in Killeen.
The event is scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and is hosted by The Accumulative Advantage Foundation, the Roy Miller Family Foundation and the Food Care Center-Killeen.
Miller said that networking with other organizations, such as the Food Care Center, was crucial in helping put the event together and websites have been set up to help raise money food giveaways.
“With the help of these organizations that do this, like the Food Care Center-Killeen, it was easy for us to pick up their logistics,” Miller said. “They have a warehouse that provides those meals, we met up with them, we met up with the city of Killeen and everything just started coming together.”
“Most importantly, if you are one of these people that is struggling, you definitely should come out Saturday at Grace Christian Church.”
The COVID-19 pandemic sacked the sports world in mid-March as the NBA, NHL, MLB, ITF, PGA and NASCAR postponed their respective seasons, the 2020 Summer Olympics were postponed one year,NCAA cancelled the rest of its spring sports season, numerous college football programs had to postpone or cancel their spring practices and the XFL eventually ceased operations.
The pandemic dealt a bigger blow to the financial market. According to the April 2020 statistics released by the Texas Workforce Commission in conjunction with the US Department of Labor, Texas’ unemployment rate is at 12.8 percent while the national rate is 14.7 percent (https://www.twc.texas.gov/news/texas-unemployment-rate-128-percent).
According to those numbers, the Killeen-Temple area has more than 18,000 unemployed residents.
Miller made a name for himself at Shoemaker then went on to win a BCS National Championship at Texas at 2005 and helped the Longhorns beat Ohio State in the Fiesta Bowl after the 2008 season in a game where Miller earned Defensive Most Valuable Player honors. He went on to play nine NFL seasons for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Kansas City Chiefs.
No matter where his gridiron exploits took him, giving back to Killeen, particularly the military community has always been on Miller’s mind as evident with events such as the decade-old Centex Pro Football and Cheer Camp that he is heavily involved in organizing.
“There’s so many soldiers that are transitioning to the real world and having a hard time doing that,” Miller said. “I think about the people out there and I am trying to just give those people a hand.”
Operation Feed Our Neighbors
Saturday, 9 a.m.
Grace Christian Church, 1401 East Elms Road, Killeen, TX 76542
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/operation-feed-our-neighbors-tickets-106299687226
Roy Miller by the Numbers
Shoemaker
S. Army All-American in 2005 team captain.
Recorded 264 tackles and 24 sacks during his prep career.
Named first-team all-state as a senior.
Texas
Member of 2005 BCS National Championship team
Fiesta Bowl Defensive MVP as a senior.
First-team All-Big 12 as a senior in 2008.
Recorded 138 tackles, 25 tackles for loss and 10 sacks.
NFL (Tampa Bay, Jacksonville and Kansas City)
Started in 84 of 119 career games.
Recorded 252 tackles, eight sacks and 24 tackles for loss
