Buffalo Bills' safety Damar Hamlin on Wednesday won the 2023 NFLPA Alan Page Community Award.
The annual award recognizes one NFL player each year who goes above and beyond to give back to his hometown and team city.
Hamlin, who suffered a cardiac arrest on Jan. 2 during a Bills' regular season game, collected more than $9 million in donations for his charity The Chasing M’s Foundation Toy Drive.
Get top local stories in Southern California delivered to you every morning. Sign up for NBC LA's News Headlines newsletter.
The donations all go to help provide gifts for children in Hamlin’s hometown of McKees Rocks in western Pennsylvania.
“As I embark on my journey to the NFL, I will never forget where I come from and I am committed to using my platform to positively impact the community that raised me,” Hamlin wrote on the donation page originally launched back in 2020.
The winner of the award last year went then-Philadelphia Eagles' safety Rodney McLeod who co-founded his foundation, Change Our Future, back in 2020 with his wife Erika.
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
McLeod, who now plays for the Colts, pledged $20,000 toward educational programs, focus groups and curriculum to Constitution High School and Hill-Freedman World Academy, both in Philadelphia.
Hamlin was drafted by the Bills in 2021 and remained on injured reserve through the playoffs.
