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NATCHEZ — When describing the late NFL football legend Boyd Brown Jr., from Crosby who lived in Natchez, his widow Sheri Brown said, “He loved his family, friends and football and gave generously to the United Way as his way of giving back. He was the life of the party and was very giving. He would’ve given the shirt off of his back.”

For that reason, Sheri Brown started the Blessing in Disguise Foundation in recent years to honor his memory. Boyd Brown Jr. attended school in Wilkinson County and was a 17th-round draft pick of the NFL and played three years with the Denver Broncos and one year with the New York Giants as a tight end.

Sheri Brown, who now lives in Adams County, said her first act of giving for his memory was done anonymously four years ago.

“I’d walked up to someone at self-checkout in Walmart and I handed them $20,” she said. “They were so surprised and really appreciative. The next year, I asked someone at the registers if they had a single mother in mind with children. I offered to pay for whatever they had. It was Christmas and I wanted to extend a blessing.”

In those two times of giving, Brown said she quickly realized how much people really needed help, especially around the Christmas holiday.

“From then on, I would choose a family, a single mother with children,” she said.

The next year, she found a Ferriday family to bless through a home health agency. On Wednesday, she blessed the Faust family of Crosby, where her late husband grew up. Brown took them shopping at the Natchez Walmart.

“I told her to get her children whatever they want for Christmas and I’ll pay for it,” Brown said.

Miranda Faust is also a single mom of five children. “I was not expecting it but it has been a big surprise and a blessing,” Faust said.

Brown said she chose single mothers because she understands their hardship. At age 5, she lost her father in a vehicle accident.

“My mom sacrificed for me, so I know how difficult it is to live without a father in the house,” she said. “Had my dad been living, it would have been a different story.”