UPPER SAUCON TWP., Pa. - Philadelphia Eagles star running back and Penn State graduate Saquon Barkley is back home in the Lehigh Valley.
His foundation, the Michael Ann and Saquon Barkley Hope Foundation, held a gala event to bring corporate sponsors and supporters together to help underprivileged children.
"It's great. It's always great to be back home, especially on a bye week. That's the beauty about being close to home," said Barkley.
When Barkley isn't scoring touchdowns on the field, the Whitehall High School graduate shined on center stage, in front of family, friends, supporters, and football fans.
"I'm a little better at speaking in front of people than I was. Then when I was 21 years old, but it's going to be fun," said Barkley. "I love the fact that we're all here, we're all dressed up. Gives an excuse to dress up."
A gala event hosted at the Saucon Valley Country Club honored Barkley's other passion.
"It's all about giving back, all the things we can do in our community to make a change, especially for underprivileged kids," said Barkley.
The foundation is celebrating an evening of dinner, drinks, music, and conversation. One of the organization's missions is help fight hunger in the community.
"I feel like God put me in a great position to have a platform and use my talents to play in the NFL. But also with that, I'm able to give back," said Barkley.
It was a wonderful event full of support for the foundation and an even more exciting event for some Eagles fans, who got to take home some special signed merch.
"I'm going to get a couple autographs later, and it was totally worth it for a great cause," said fan Alen Beljin.
Organizers said the event brings corporate sponsors together, to drive the vision of the foundation.
"The amazing things that Saquon does on the field, but we want to tell the story about the amazing things that he does off the field," said John Hauth, Senior Director of Sports Medicine at St. Luke's.
"It's a blessing. It's truly an honor," said Barkley. "I'm looking forward to expand on this and continue to do more stuff like this in our community."
