KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Since he can't knock the stuffing out of the person (or persons) who did the deed, one Kansas City Chiefs linebacker is trying to do the next-best thing:
Put the turkey back into Thanksgiving.
At least 300 of them, to be exact.
Chiefs reserve James-Michael Johnson, who joined the club as a waiver claim from Cleveland on Sept. 1, has agreed to help replace donated turkeys stolen from a homeless shelter near his hometown of Vallejo, Calif.
"Dear @missionsolano, I heard about the stolen turkeys. I'm going to help get those replaced," Johnson wrote on his Twitter feed Wednesday.
The 6-foot-1, 240-pound linebacker hails from Solano County, a region roughly halfway between Sacramento and San Francisco. Nick Fisher, director of development of Mission Solano, said his mission isn't far from Rodriguez High School in Fairfield, Calif., where Johnson was a prep star before playing collegiately at the University of Nevada.
The mission discovered Monday that hundreds of stock of Thanksgiving turkeys had gone missing.
"It's heartwarming to know that we have people that know about us and care about this community," Fisher says. "It's so awesome (that), even though you may not be living here, your heart is still here.
"He's really looking out for his community, and it's amazing. So we're super excited about that."
Mission Solano's annual Thanksgiving Dinner feeds more than 1,000 at the Fairfield Community Center.
"We try to be here, every day, righting the wronged," Fisher says, "making sure people get a hand up and not a handout."
And the 9-1 Chiefs have just found themselves some new friends -- right in the heart of Raiders/Niners country.
"We are perpetually Chiefs fans," Fisher says. "We're going to get all the gear. ... Kansas City Chiefs all the way, as far as Mission Solano goes."
You can follow Sean Keeler on Twitter @seankeeler or email him at seanmkeeler@gmail.com.
