Why Drake Maye, Sam Howell helped raise more than $2 million for NC nonprofit

Just after throwing the ceremonial first pitch at Boshamer Stadium Friday night — a strike, he might add — Michael Malone made the roughly 15-minute drive across town to a packed Carrboro home tucked behind a thick grove of bamboo.

North Carolina’s new basketball coach arrived around 6 p.m. and immediately began to work the room. Drinks and appetizers flowed amid a crowd including Jordon Hudson and Bill Belichick, and also state treasurer Brad Briner, while the UNC acapella group Clef Hangers performed outside on the patio. By 8, Malone — along with associate head coach Chuck Martin and director of operations Eric Hoots — was gone. He had a Zoom call with a potential recruit. It is portal season, after all, and Malone has a roster to build and a bench to round out.

But the brief stop — one of Malone’s first public outings since his introductory press conference on April 7 — underscores the growing pull of TABLE’s annual “Heels at the Rabbit Hole” and the influence of Sam Howell, who launched his partnership with the Carrboro nonprofit in 2021.

Sam Howell’s early NIL deal started it

Almost five years after his final snap at North Carolina, Howell is still shaping outcomes in Chapel Hill — not on a football field, but at dinner tables across Orange County.

The former Tar Heels quarterback, now in the NFL with the Dallas Cowboys, returned Friday night for the fifth annual fundraiser benefiting TABLE, an organization fighting childhood food insecurity in the greater Chapel Hill area. By the night’s end — following a high energy auction, cocktail hour and Q&A headlined by Howell and his former UNC teammate Drake Maye — organizers announced a record $1.2 million raised on Friday alone, pushing the event’s total past $2.7 million in five years.

“Sam has, maybe in a lot of ways he may not even realize, just really set the stage for the impact that UNC athletes can make,” Ashton C. Tippins, TABLE executive director, told the N&O. “Sam is an incredible example for what can be done and how it can be done, the impact you can make, and the example that he sets in life in general.”

The partnership traces back to Howell’s first name, image and likeness deal in 2021. At a time when college athletes were just beginning to monetize their brands, he chose TABLE over traditional commercial endorsements.

“When NIL first started, a lot of people were signing deals with companies and getting a lot of national attention,” Howell, a native of Indian Trail, N.C., told the N&O. “We thought it’d be a great opportunity for me to partner with a charity organization as my first deal.”

“I don’t come from much growing up,” Howell added, “and so I know there’s a lot of people out there in the world that are in need of help, and there’s definitely a lot of people here in Chapel Hill and surrounding areas that could use our help.”

Howell’s NIL deal with TABLE began modestly, with him quietly packing and delivering food to local families like any other volunteer. But Howell also took advantage of his platform to spread TABLE’s story throughout the community — especially to his teammates.

A move to solve childhood food insecurity

“The first stat I read was one of every three children in this county has food insecurity,” Maye, the New England Patriots quarterback, told the N&O. “That kind of opened my eyes, and still does to this day.”

Over the years, Howell made the partnership his own, turning a small NIL idea into a sustained annual fundraiser that now ranks among TABLE’s biggest revenue drivers, fueling its capital campaign and helping it expand operations.

In the first two years of Sam’s TABLE NIL deal, the organization worked out of a less than 2,000 square-feet building without adequate parking, walk-in refrigeration, a conference room, a robust loading dock or even functional bathrooms. Staff were cramped. Volunteers often had to navigate logistical constraints that limited efficiency.

That changed with TABLE’s transition into its current 8,000-square-foot headquarters in Carrboro in December 2023.

“We have space for our staff to work and to work efficiently,” Tippins said, “and it’s allowed us to serve more kids — significantly more kids.”

Since moving into the new space, the nonprofit has gone from serving around 800 kids a week to 1,200. And now, after Friday’s fundraiser, organizers predict TABLE will be able to serve all the families on its waitlist — which has included over 300 kids, at times, over the last six months.

Howell and Maye both have nameplates at the new headquarters, funded by “Heels at the Rabbit Hole” organizer and Ram’s Club chairman Vaughn Moore. He said he wants both quarterbacks to be “immortalized there for their efforts” and commitment to coming back to Chapel Hill to continue their partnership.

But for Howell, just being able to see the new office space was all the validation he needed.

“It’s awesome, just giving everyone over there the resources they need to serve the community,” Howell said. “And at the end of the day, it’s not about having all the flashy things or the nice building. It’s really about the kids and feeding the kids. That’s what this is all about.”

The fundraising efforts kickstarted by Howell have opened the door to more expansive programming as well. Tippins said TABLE is continuing to expand efforts for more sustained, preventative support for families, including nutrition education and other health-related resources.

“We are making sure that kids have enough food, but it’s more than that,” Tippins said. “It’s making sure that they have enough nutritious food… it does positively impact their health, their mental, physical and emotional health.”

Big names in UNC sports chip in

The fundraising event itself has grown alongside that momentum.

What started as a relatively modest gathering in 2021 — a meaningful way to send Howell off to the NFL — has become a standing-room-only fundraiser featuring Hors d’oeuvres with UNC legends like Tyler Hansbrough, an open bar and buffet, and plenty of pricey items to bid on. This year’s auction included items ranging from signed memorabilia from the likes of Maye, Antawn Jamison and Belichick, behind-the-scenes experiences with various UNC athletics teams and even an opportunity to bake with Maye’s wife, Ann Michael.

Jokes helped pace the paddle raising. Former UNC quarterback Brynn Renner exchanged smack talk with Maye and Howell about a recent golf outing. Maye poked fun at his own freshly shaved head — part of a Boston Children’s Hospital fundraiser — which revealed a less-than-ideal hairline he joked may create some “trouble down the road.” Moore called Maye a “trophy husband” in a nod to his wife’s newfound virality in New England.

“Drake, what’s it like to be married to a celebrity?,” Moore asked, sending the room into a roar.

Still, the money raised was no laughing matter.

For Howell and Maye, Friday night’s fundraiser was a familiar scene. And, increasingly, a lasting one.

“It’s cool that we get to do this together,” Howell said. “We just want to try to continue to grow it and spread it and get as many people involved as possible… we look forward to this every year.”