McTelvin Agim has become a successful player with the National Football League’s Denver Broncos, but his team commitments don’t get in the way of his support of The Salvation Army.

“When I was a kid, we had a rough time, a rough patch growing up,” McTelvin says. “We didn’t have anywhere to go.”

Or almost nowhere. He says it was The Salvation Army who helped his family, so he understands the pressures and struggles many families face in similar situations across the United States and Canada—especially at Christmas.

Giving It the Boot

The 24-year-old, six-foot-two, 308-pound second-year defensive lineman says he remembers as a six- or seven-year-old child the Christmases when he only got socks, or when he and his family had to sleep in their car or seek refuge at the Army shelter in Texarkana, Texas.

“The Salvation Army gave us sanctuary,” McTelvin recalls. “They gave us a place to lay our heads. I wouldn’t be here without them. I can’t ever repay them for that time; for how important that was for us, but to be able to do something and give back something to them is something I try to do every time.”

As part of the annual NFL My Cause My Cleats campaign, McTelvin put up for auction one of the custom-designed boots he wore at a recent Broncos game. He had the Army shield printed on them and autographed them. The proceeds of the sale of the single boot went to The Salvation Army in Texarkana.

Valuable Opportunity

Captain Juan Gomez, the pastor of the Texarkana Corps, says it means a lot to The Salvation Army for McTelvin to give back to a community that helped him and his family through a difficult time.

Captain Juan goes on to say that he could identify with how important such a response was, having been helped by the Army when he was a child, too, as his family was once chosen from an Angel Tree.

“I have gone from one side of the feeding line to the other,” he says.

Angel Trees are a popular Christmas tradition where trees are decorated with angels bearing the name of a person or family on them, and people are invited to choose one or more and buy gifts or hampers for that person or family.

“It really is an opportunity for these children and for these families as a whole to be seen as valuable,” Captain Juan says.

Worry-Free Home

McTelvin states that, by being part of the Angel Tree initiative himself, he represented his family and countless others like his who needed help.

As a six-year-old, McTelvin says he was old enough to feel embarrassed at being homeless and having to live in an Army shelter: “If somebody asked you where you live, you didn’t want to say. I knew that much.”

For about a year, McTelvin and his family stayed there. In a trying situation, a youngster was able to make the best of it.

He says that the Salvation Army staff tried to make the communal living space homey and would take him and the other children on trips to the park or the basketball court.

During that time, McTelvin formed friendships with other children. Though some schoolmates couldn’t relate to what he was going through, his friends at the shelter could.

“They understand you,” he says. “They understand they’re in the same boat as you. The counsellors working at The Salvation Army were trying to make sure that we didn’t have to worry about that either.”

Finding Hope

McTelvin’s surroundings may have changed with the Broncos having drafted him last year, but he knows he hasn’t changed.

“I don’t think you ever forget where you come from,” he says. “You don’t ever forget the struggles, the trials, any of that. It’s still fresh on your mind, but you try to help as much as possible.”

Captain Juan says, just as McTelvin has, the Army continues to provide opportunities where people can find hope.

“Every day, we have men, women and children who are coming through our doors, and we don’t know who they are, and we don’t know who they’re going to be,” Captain Juan says. “We don’t know what successes they’re going to have in life or what struggles they’re going to have in life, and the truth of the matter is none of that weighs on our decision to help them.”

“The thing I want to do is just give back,” McTelvin says. 

Reprinted from Others, January 2022.

Photos: Courtesy of the Denver Broncos