Thielen, Rudolph, Barr Give Back During Coronavirus Pandemic

As COVID-19 continues to affect millions of people across the United States, several Vikings players are stepping up to give back to the local community in a time of need.

Wide receiver Adam Thielen and tight end Kyle Rudolph have each made donations to Second Harvest Heartland, a Twin Cities food bank that provides meals to children and families who need them. Thielen and his wife Caitlin donated $25,000 to SHH through their foundation.

Special thanks to @athielen19, @MRS_T_19 and The Thielen Foundation for their $25,000 donation to support kids who are aren't able to access school meals during COVID-19 closures. With their help, we'll have the resources to respond to the increased needs in the coming weeks. pic.twitter.com/G4VLx1ECXW
— Second Harvest Heartland (@2harvest) March 16, 2020

Rudolph and his wife Jordan also gave roughly $25,000 to provide 82,000 meals, inspired by Rudolph's jersey number, 82. They set up the Rudy's Meal Plan food drive and are encouraging Vikings fans to donate, with a goal of reaching $200,000 donated and 600,000 meals provided.

"Growing up, I never had to worry about not having meals if we didn't have school, and that's not the case for a lot of kids around our community," Rudolph told Vikings.com. "There's a lot of families who are going without meals because mom and/or dad aren't able to work right now, so we wanted to do something here for the families in our community that we know are being directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic."

It’s a great honor to help out the folks with @2harvest to make sure kids and families won’t have to worry about where their next meal will come from during this time of uncertainty. Jordan and I take great pride in supporting the community that has always supports us!! #SKOL https://t.co/lDhWcqw8Pz
— Kyle Rudolph (@KyleRudolph) March 23, 2020

Rudolph has been the Vikings nominee for the Walter Payton Man of the Year award in each of the past two seasons for his charitable work with the University of Minnesota Masonic Children's Hospital.

Vikings linebacker Anthony Barr is also getting involved in giving back. His Raise the Barr Foundation, which helps single parents complete their post-secondary education, is giving $500 emergency grants to any current or former RTB scholarship recipients who apply.

The Vikings organization and the Wilf Family Foundation announced last week that they were donating $500,000 to local community resources affected by this crisis.

Join the conversation at InsideTheVikings by clicking the follow button in the upper right-hand corner of this page, and follow @WillRagatz on Twitter.