NASHVILLE - Jeffery Simmons was born in Louisiana but moved to Macon, Mississippi, as a youth and claims Noxubee County, and the city of Macon, population 2,582, as his hometown.
Simmons, who recently signed a new four-year, $94 million deal with the Tennessee Titans, used some of that cash to throw a party for his hometown—the whole town.
According to a report, 1,700 people signed up to attend Simmons’s event over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. While the massive defensive tackle has put on a youth camp in the town three years in a row as part of his GiveEmAReason Foundation, this was the first time he had thrown one for the city.
Bounce houses, water slides, live music, fireworks, health screenings, and more were on the agenda for the event, according to a tweet by Dr. Justin Turner, shared above.
For his efforts, Macon’s mayor gave Simmons a key to the city for what he did for the small eastern Mississippi community.
“I reached out to him, and I’m like, ‘I want to bring something back to my hometown.’ I do the camp every year in Starkville, but I just wanted to bring it here. This is where it started at, this is where my heart is at, and this is where I love a lot,” said Simmons per WLBT TV3.
Simmons says regardless of whether his professional career takes him somewhere further or even ends unexpectedly, this event is something he plans to do well into the future.
“I went to the same elementary they went to, to middle school, to high school. That’s my message to them, you know. If I can do it, why not you,” said Simmons.
“This is where my heart is at,” Simmons said, per the WLBT report.
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