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SAN LEANDRO — When Samantha McDuffie woke up Tuesday morning, she didn’t know her kids would be at her Tuesday night Walmart shift.
She dropped off her 12-year-old son, Keyshawn, and 8-year-old daughter, Nevaeh, at the East Oakland Youth Center, where they’ve been going for five years.
“You know we’ll be at Walmart on Davis today,” they told mom when they arrived.
“I’m like, ‘My job?'” McDuffie said. “And they were like, ‘Yeah, your job.’ ”
McDuffie, who has worked at Walmart for four years, has helped with each Raiders charity event there. For the past five years, Raiders veteran offensive lineman Donald Penn has worked with his WellBeing Trust foundation and the East Oakland Youth Center to help kids with their Christmas shopping. On Tuesday night, Penn gave 25 kids each a $300 Walmart gift card. Nine other Raiders joined him, and each one oversaw a small group of kids as they darted around the store. This was the first year McDuffie’s kids were chosen for the event.
“It helped me out this Christmas,” McDuffie said. “I was struggling and it helped me.”
McDuffie watched from a nearby register as all 25 kids gathered prior to the event. She noticed her son biting his nails in his chair, and smiled.
“My son is in love with the Raiders. That’s his favorite football team. For him to see them, oh, he is just in love,” she said. “It helps him physically and mentally because sometimes he has a little anger issues and all that, but him seeing his favorite players, I know he’s excited. That’s why he’s over there biting on his nails right now.”
Keyshawn was paired with Raiders practice squad tight end Paul Butler, and Nevaeh with backup center Cameron Hunt. Though their $300 allotments could’ve been used solely on themselves, siblings bought for each other, too. Nevaeh gifted Keyshawn a basketball, and when someone remarked, “Keyshawn could’ve got himself a basketball,” the 8-year-old responded, “No but I love my brother.”
“I got her something, too,” Keyshawn said. “Slime.”
Apparently Nevaeh is a big fan of slime toys, because she started squealing while jumping up and down. Both kids bought gifts for mom, too, but they refused to show her because they want to carry out the surprise as long as possible. Neveah showed off a pair of sparkling green elf shoes to her mom, proclaiming they were dad’s newest gift. They brought Xbox gift cards and bracelets to the register, among other items, and mom helped check out the kids. She was on the clock, after all.
The only rule for the night was kids couldn’t buy cell phones. Some gifts they did buy included laptops, video game systems, watches, headphones, rubber kickballs, a bag of Doritos and a box of Pepsi.
Like his Thankgiving turkey giveaway, Penn brought this event from Tampa Bay, where he played prior to signing with the Raiders in 2014. Joining him Tuesday night were teammates left guard Kelechi Osemele, right tackle Brandon Parker, punter Johnny Townsend, defensive tackle Clinton McDonald, tight end Darren Waller, tight end Paul Butler, fullback Ryan Yurachek, offensive lineman Jamar McGloster and offensive lineman Cameron Hunt.
“It’s just a blessing. Christmas is a hard time for a lot of people and stuff,” Penn said before the event. ” … Christmas is big because it’s one of my favorite holidays, so it’s dear to me and giving a hand and walking around with these kids, seeing these smiles, giving them ideas, helping them pick out stuff. I try to tell them, too, like ‘Hey, you gotta get some school supplies, too. Just don’t get all toys.’”
The only debate had Tuesday night was who would drive Keyshawn and Nevaeh home, mom or youth center president Regina Jackson. Other than that it was all smiles as McDuffie and her kids, along with 23 others, enjoyed a welcome Christmas surprise.
