Browns 'perfect season' parade raised over $17,000 for Cleveland food bank

On Saturday, fans of the Cleveland Browns showed up in freezing temperatures to celebrate their team’s perfect 0-16 season. Well, it was more like “celebrate.” At the very least, the season was over and they wouldn’t have to watch any more games until September, eight long months away.

A parade commemorating a team’s utter inability to win a single game isn’t necessarily a joyful thing, but something great has come out of it.

The money donated had gathered by the parade’s organizer Chris McNeil, who had started a GoFundMe to raise funds for the event. In the end, he raised over $17,000 and nearly all of it has gone to the Greater Cleveland Food Bank. On the GoFundMe page, McNeil said that none of the money raised would go to him personally. He would use the money raised to pay for security, medical, and other parade necessities, and the rest would go to the food bank. It looks like he ended up needing very little of it for the parade, and sent the rest of the money onto the food bank.

The number of meals they’re providing isn’t a small thing. Food banks struggle every day to find money and actual food to feed those who need it. The Greater Cleveland Food Bank gives out over 7,000 meals per day, which means the donation from the “perfect season” parade will provide 10 days of meals.

The absolute best part of this whole ordeal is that the Greater Cleveland Food Bank got some much-needed support. And now that the Browns have had their 0-16 season and angry/supportive Clevelanders have had a parade about it, hopefully both the team and the fans can put it behind them. Because I’m pretty sure no one wants this to ever happen again.

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Liz Roscher is a writer for Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email her at lizroscher@yahoo.com or follow her on twitter! Follow @lizroscher