Former Ohio State punter Drue Chrisman is working as a DoorDash driver this summer to give back to the Cincinnati community. Credit: Casey Cascaldo | Lantern File Photo
An NFL punter DoorDashing on a bike with a GoPro attached to his head? Oh, that’s just Drue Chrisman.
From playing in the AFC Championship to cruising through the streets of downtown Cincinnati, Chrisman is spending this offseason giving back to his community, using the money he earns from delivering DoorDash orders to buy food for those in need.
The former Ohio State punter, now a Cincinnati Bengal, began DoorDashing in May as a way to exercise, but it has now evolved into a heartwarming story plastered all over the news.
“It has certainly caught fire quicker than I expected,” Chrisman said. “It blew up when people were kind of realizing what I was doing rather than just, ‘I’m doing DoorDash in the offseason’, there was a little bit of a bigger meaning behind it.”
For the first month, respectively, Chrisman rode his bike around the city and DoorDashed to stay in good shape. He said while doing this he noticed so many people in need and decided to turn his deliveriesDashing into something bigger.
Chrisman began filming his deliveryDashing days with a GoPro strapped to his head and then posting them on YouTube. He said making videos allows him to entertain and play into his creative side, but it also opens an avenue for people to take notice and share it.
“I knew if people saw what I was trying to do, that eventually, I think people would be kind of touched as well and might try to support this,” Chrisman said. “I’ve had Gold Star [Chili] and Skyline both reach out to me wanting to donate hundreds of meals.”
Chrisman and his wife, Avery, have a toddler, so he said traveling to Alabama for off-season training was no longer feasible. Knowing he wanted to stay active, he said it was between purchasing new gym equipment, or DoorDashing.
So with a little inspiration from Instagram, “DoorDash Drue” was created.
“We were debating getting a Peloton, actually, and the frugal side of me was not willing to dish out that kind of money,” Chrisman said. “I don’t know if my phone was listening to me — Instagram was listening to me — and showed me a video of a guy doing DoorDash, just running around the streets, and I saw it and I liked it.”
For Chrisman’s first outing feeding those in need, he took extra food from the Bengals facility and put them in to-go boxes. But the first time Chrisman used his Dashing money — $236.43 in total — was in late June, when he visited a local family-owned-and-operated pizza shop, Your Mom’s Pizzeria, and ordered two of each specialty pizza on their menu to hand out at local parks.
Francesca Ianni, who took Chrisman’s order and was featured in his YouTube video, said she was curious why he needed so many pizzas.
“He paid in full — he paid for it all. We had no idea what it was going to,” Ianni said. “He just said he was going to go pass them out downtown.”
Giving back isn’t new to Chrisman. When he played for the Buckeyes from 2017-20, he was known throughout the program for bottle flipping, but he said he used the “hobby” to raise money for different organizations, such as supporting Australia’s effort to put out its bushfires in 2020.
Parker Fleming, Ohio State’s special teams coordinator, spent three years as Chrisman’s coach and friend. He said he recalls Chrisman’s bottle-flipping days and hearing about his DoorDash adventures was “not surprising one bit.”
“He’s always been, really, a man of the people — wants to just make sure everybody’s got what they need,” Fleming said. “He’s so jovial and fun, and it didn’t surprise me at all when I saw it. And then when I found out what he was doing it for — for a good cause — that also didn’t surprise me.”
Chrisman said since being featured on the news and social media, he has started to get more recognition and people now “wave to the camera.”
As he hands out the food, Chrisman said he takes time to hear stories and learn about people’s lives. He said this part is exceptionally “special” to him.
Chrisman said that although his career in the NFL has been a lifelong dream, he felt he wasn’t giving back to the community.
“I’ve been so focused on football itself and making an active roster,” Chrisman said. “But part of me felt like there was still something missing.”
He said he hopes to continue being “DoorDash Drue” not only during the offseason but whenever he can. Chrisman said he’s happy to spend his free time giving back and doesn’t see it stopping anytime soon.
“In a way, I’m helping them, but at the same time, I’m helping myself,” Chrisman said. “I really do enjoy this and it puts a smile on my face just as big as the smiles I’m putting on other people.”
