“The gift that keeps on giving”
Wilson helps youth in McCracken County
PADUCAH
Growing up, George Wilson worked alongside his grandfather, George Reeves Jr., on the family’s 140-acre farm in Paducah. Wilson gardened, chopped firewood and learned to drive a tractor. “If I was not in school or playing ball, this is where I was at,” says Wilson, a Jackson Purchase Energy Cooperative consumer-member.
Those childhood days on the farm cultivated Wilson’s work ethic, teaching accountability and responsibility—qualities that later contributed to his successful professional football career. Wilson played wide receiver, and eventually safety, in the NFL for the Detroit Lions, Buffalo Bills and Tennessee Titans.
In Buffalo, Wilson worked with the team’s community relations department, visiting children’s hospitals and local schools. Wilson soon identified an area he was passionate about—helping youth. In 2010, Wilson formed Saving Adolescents From the Everyday Trials of Youth (SAFETY) Foundation. He retired from the NFL in 2014 and six years later returned to Paducah, where his nonprofit organization serves the city’s youth.
Wilson says he happily gives back to the community—Paducah—that gave so much to him.
Wilson says the SAFETY Foundation positions kids “to be bold and courageous in pursuing their life goals, dreams and aspirations.” The foundation is dedicated to youth mentorship, community programs and developing skills, like networking and communicating effectively. “I just want the kids to know that being successful doesn’t require perfection,” Wilson says. “It requires purpose.”
This month, Wilson will distribute three $5,000 checks to local nonprofit groups to help finance after-school and youth enrichment programs. The funds will be awarded during a Nelly concert held at The Carson Center for Performing Arts in Paducah and hosted by Wilson’s event company, GW Experiences. Wilson says, “I’m doing that to try to improve the quality of life in our community, give our community something to do and something to look forward to.”
On June 5-6, the SAFETY Foundation hosts a two-day Summer Sports Fest at Paducah Tilghman High School. The event features bowling, food, prizes and more for kids from preschool through high school. Learn more at gwsafety.org.
Wilson is the fourth-generation steward of the farm—now called Phonograph Farms—that taught him important life lessons at a young age. He fondly refers to the land as “the gift that keeps on giving” and offers an event venue, Reevesville Manor, on the property, so others can visit to make memories, just as Wilson’s family has for over a century.
Paducah has always been special to Wilson, and he values the teachers, coaches and church congregants who impacted his life. He says, “I just wanted to come back and be able to pour into the community and invest into the community that invested in me.”
