Travis Kelce may have the NFL playoffs on his mind this weekend, but he’s still making time for the Kansas City community. The Kansas City Chiefs tight end, 34, recently helped restore the home of longtime resident Gloria White after the elderly former athlete’s home fell into disrepair.
Kelce’s foundation, 87 & Running, has donated enough money to Rebuilding Together Kansas City to fund needed repairs at White’s east Kansas City home, local outlet KSHB 41 reported this week. “When we looked at her home, we realized there were a lot of other things she needed — a new roof, she needed gutters, she needed deadbolts on the door, she needed work in the bathroom and kitchen,” Scott Hickox, executive director of Rebuilding Together Kansas City, told the outlet.
After Kelce and his foundation found out, Hickox said the NFL star donated enough money to the organization to cover the cost of the repairs.
“For Travis to care enough and for his foundation to care enough about his community and what’s going on in Kansas City, it meant the world to him to partner with,” Hickox told KSHB.
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Gloria White’s house.
KSHB 41/ YouTube
Kelce, whose romance with Taylor Swift was rumored during the NFL season, learned about White and her house through former Chiefs player Otis Taylor, who is married to one of White’s cousins, according to KSHB. The outlet reported that White is a huge Chiefs fan and her house is filled with memorabilia dedicated to her local NFL team, as well as memorabilia from her own athletic career.
White was a barrier-breaking athlete in her youth, becoming the first black cheerleader at a high school in Topeka, Kansas. Later, White also competed in the Olympic Trials in Abilene, Texas.
However, KSHB reported that White’s home was falling apart, prompting her to call Rebuilding Together Kansas City for help. The organization estimated that White needed a wide range of repairs to the home, including repairs to the sewer system, new doors, new basement stairs, a new hot water heater, a new kitchen sink, bathroom safety bars and fire safety equipment, among other repairs.
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Travis Kelce.
Jamie Squire/Getty
The house also needed to be cleaned up after a raw sewage leak in the basement, which is why White originally called the organization.
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Hickox said White was determined to stay in her home rather than move out.
“She wants to stay in this neighborhood, and the neighborhood is better because she’s here,” said the executive director of Rebuilding Together Kansas City. “I’ve been here 56 years,” White told KSHB. “They know Miss Gloria. I’m about people.”
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Source: HIS Education