EGG HARBOR – Members of the Boys & Girls Club of Door County will have more opportunities to learn to make and eat healthy foods following a healthy donation by a former Green Bay Packers player.
AJ Dillon and his wife, Gabrielle Dillon, presented a $30,000 donation to the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Bay & Lakes Region, which includes the Door County club, during a July 1 event at Horseshoe Bay Farms in Egg Harbor. The donation included $15,000 from the couple’s Dillon Family Foundation and a $15,000 matching gift from an anonymous local family foundation.
The donated funds will support a new program that will have teenage Boys & Girls Club members teach younger club members healthy cooking skills using fresh ingredients sourced from Horseshoe Bay Farms.
The program falls in line with the Dillon Family Foundation’s mission to not only fight hunger in Wisconsin but also to promote healthy eating and farm-to-family meals with locally sourced ingredients. It’s an expansion of an initiative at the local Boys & Girls Club in which members grow fruits and vegetables in raised garden beds and make snacks and meals with them at the club’s Sturgeon Bay location. The foundation donated $25,000 to the club in July 2025 for that initiative and other healthy eating programs.
“Last year we were able to donate money and time to a gardening initiative,” AJ Dillon said at the presentation. “We heard a lot about it, the kids loved it.”
“This is such a huge deal,” Johanna Wicklund, CEO of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Bay & Lakes Region, said. “[Last year’s donation] gave kids a chance to learn to grow fruits and vegetables and make their own healthy recipes. This [new donation] is going to give us the chance to do it year-round.”
The Dillons’ foundation has awarded more than $102,000 to 16 different organizations in the state to combat hunger since its founding in July 2024. Gabrielle is an enthusiastic foodie who discusses food and cooking on her “Welcome to the Kitchen” Substack blog and various social media sites, and AJ Dillon said as a professional athlete, healthy eating is a top priority.
Besides their connection to food, the Dillons also are strongly connected to Door County and northeast Wisconsin. Gabrielle is a Green Bay native whose parents have a cottage on the Peninsula, while AJ Dillon played five seasons with the Packers and became a fan favorite, before he joined the Philadelphia Eagles last season and the Carolina Panthers for the upcoming season. The couple has spent so much time in the county and promoting it AJ became known as the “Mayor of Door County.”
AJ Dillon said that connection is why he and Gabrielle strive to help people in the area.
“This community really welcomed me with open arms,” Dillon said. “This makes me feel really fulfilled. When we started the Dillon Family Foundation, we had done a few food drives, but we wanted to make sure we were constantly giving back to our neighborhood, our community.”
He said while he was dining at PC Junction in Jacksonport, a person came up to him and started thanking him for the work he and Gabrielle do to combat hunger and teach healthy eating.
“That’s why we do it,” he said.
The Dillons also recently published a cookbook, “Dining With the Dillons: A Recipe Collection,” that features more than 30 recipes by Gabrielle along with recipes from 12 Door County restaurants, with all proceeds going to the Dillon Family Foundation. For more on the foundation, visit dillonfamilyfoundation.org.
For more on the Boys & Girls Club of Door County, visit bgcblr.org/door-county.
Contact Christopher Clough at 920-562-8900 or cclough@usatodayco.com.
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This article originally appeared on Green Bay Press-Gazette: AJ Dillon presents $30K to Boys & Girls Club for healthy food program
Reporting by Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette / Green Bay Press-Gazette
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Christopher Clough, Green Bay Press-Gazette | USA TODAY Network
