MINNEAPOLIS – It was a morning filled with bonding and gratitude.
The Vikings joined forces last week with Polaris and United Service Organizations (U.S.O.) to host a Salute to Service baby shower celebrating 10 military mothers who are expecting new arrivals in the coming weeks and months.
Several members of the Vikings Home Team (spouses and partners of Vikings coaches, players and Legends) participated in the tea party-themed shower and also shopped for and donated baby gifts for each guest of honor.
Jessica King, an active-duty soldier for the Minnesota Army National Guard, is expecting her third child, a daughter who will join brothers 5 and 15 years old.
“It’s been amazing. Everybody’s been so friendly, and just being able to share my military history and talk about the little one that’s on the way and how excited we are to be expecting, it’s been wonderful,” King said. “And [the Vikings women] are truly just real people. They’re just so normal. They’re all friendly and kind, and it’s been really fun to meet people from all over the United States.”
Vikings Home Team members who celebrated King and the other nine mothers are as follows:
Leah (Vikings Head Coach Kevin O’Connell), Keely (linebacker Kamu Grugier-Hill), Amelia (kicker Will Reichard), Katya (quarterback J.J. McCarthy), Emily (offensive lineman Dan Feeney), Taylor Saunders (linebacker Blake Cashman), Ashley (punter Ryan Wright), Maegan (tackle David Quessenberry), Cynthia (senior offensive assistant Chris O’Hara), Zafrin (offensive quality control Derron Montgomery), Susan Landwehr-Marshall (Vikings Legend Jim Marshall), Melissa (Vikings Legend Mike Harris), T.J. Pierret (Vikings Legend Rickey Young) and Stacy (Vikings Legend Leo Lewis).