Linebacker Kyle Van Noy receives the Patriots’ 2019 Ron Burton Community Service Award

2019 has been a pretty good year so far for New England Patriots linebacker Kyle Van Noy. After winning the Super Bowl in February as a core contributor to the team’s outstanding defensive effort, he now also received the team’s Ron Burton Community Service Award: during the organization’s annual season premiere on the Gillette Stadium field on Tuesday, Van Noy was presented with the award honoring his involvement and work with the local community.

“Kyle and his wife, Marissa, started the Van Noy Valor Foundation, a mission that helps initiatives relating to adopted, foster and disadvantaged youth who are in need,” said team owner Robert Kraft. “They are both committed to doing anything they can to help make a difference in the lives of children by committing and volunteering to serve and support our community. We are proud of his accomplishments on the field as a New England Patriot, but even more so, proud of his character and his contributions in the community.”

The Van Noys’ charitable work is closely tied to the couple’s own personal experiences: Kyle himself was adopted when he was an infant, while Marissa’s father and young brother were both adopted as well. In 2014, when Van Noy got drafted by the Detroit Lions (he joined the Patriots via trade in 2016), the two established the Van Noy Valor Foundation with the self-described purpose of “armoring adopted, disadvantaged and foster children for success.”

Van Noy is the seventeenth player to receive the award, named after former Patriots running back Ron Burton. He joins a group consisting of Joe Cardona (2018), Jordan Richards (2017), Rob Gronkowski (2016), Nate Solder (2015), Devin McCourty (2014), Matthew Slater (2013), Zoltan Mesko (2012), Jerod Mayo (2011), Vince Wilfork (2010), Kevin Faulk (2009), Larry Izzo (2008), Ty Warren (2007), Jarvis Green (2006), Matt Light (2005), Troy Brown (2004) and Joe Andruzzi (2003).

If you want to support the Van Noy Valor foundation, please click here.