How did that happen? Well, says the Official Site:
As the young wide receiver out of Oklahoma continues to mature, he is seeking out more life-changing experiences.
From July 3-10, Kelly is traveling to the African nation of Liberia on behalf of the global charity Mercy Ships.
Mercy Ships operates hospital ships, staffed by crews of professional medical and non-medical volunteers, to serve the poor in developing nations...
Kelly is scheduled to meet with Liberian officials and hold an international press conference before leaving Liberia.
More on Mercy Ships via Wikipedia:
Mercy Ships is a global charity which uses hospital ships to provide free health care and community development services to developing nations. It was founded in 1978 by Don and Deyon Stephens. The fleet currently comprises:
- M/V Africa Mercy - Currently docked in Monrovia, Liberia and conducting free surgeries and medical care for the people of Liberia.
- M/V Anastasis - Retired, June 2007.
- M/V Caribbean Mercy - Retired, May 2005.
The volunteer Mercy Ships crew is compromised of 1000 career crew and over 2000 short-term volunteers from over 40 nations.
You are all aware that I'm a sucker for this whole athlete-charity thing, so I won't bother you with that, but it's good to see good from Kelly. Following his blaming of his alma mater for a poor pro day performance, I certainly questioned whether Kelly was a team player or a me-monster. Turns out to be shame on me, as it's not mutually exclusive for a guy to both a) be pissed about a pro day and b) give a shit about others, say, by sailing halfway across the world to volunteer on a medical ship. As he points out:
"We take for granted too much over here [in the United States]," Kelly said. "We take for granted that we can wake up, go to a fountain and get clean water. There are people in other countries drinking dirty water and that's what everyday life is for them. So I just want to go over [to Liberia] and be a part of helping out."
This is correct.