BY QUINN MULLER

Courtesy of Michael Hassett
How many of us could pinpoint the Polynesian island nation of Tonga on a map of the Pacific? Perhaps not many. But that didn’t deter Detroit Lions offensive tackle Giovanni Manu from choosing to support the Laurel-based nonprofit, Friends of Tonga (FoT).
Manu, who was born in Tonga and immigrated to the U.S. when he was 11, sported cleats bearing Tonga’s logo and coat of arms during a game on Dec. 5 as part of the NFL’s My Cause My Cleats campaign.
The initiative’s idea began in 2013 when Brandon Marshall, a Chicago Bears wide receiver at the time, wore lime green cleats during a prime-time game in support of Mental Health Awareness Week. While he was fined for a uniform violation, the act sparked the interest of other players. In 2016, My Cause, My Cleats was formed to give players a way to raise awareness of the causes they care about.
After their winning game against the Green Bay Packers on Dec. 5, Manu’s shoes were auctioned off. One-hundred percent of the proceeds raised by the initiative go to the causes players support.
“Tonga holds a special place in my heart,” Manu said, in a video released by the Detroit Lions. “Anything they give back to them to let people know how important it is to me really helps.”
The rookie described the cleats as being “everything I wanted” in the video, which included a surprise unveiling of the cleats.
A group of former Peace Corps volunteers founded Friends of Tonga in 2018 to aid the kingdom’s recovery following Cyclone Gita. The nonprofit gained global attention in 2022, when an underwater volcanic eruption caused a 66-foot tsunami that devastated the archipelago nation.
Since then, the nonprofit has built kindergartens designed to withstand impacts of climate change; these schools are key to promoting English literacy, according to Michael Hassett, FoT president.
Over the years, the organization, which provides support on a pro bono basis, has raised over $500,000 for disaster relief and related services, Hassett said. The Kingdom of Tonga boasts a number of now-international rugby players who have rallied to support disaster efforts across the nation’s 70 inhabited islands through Friends of Tonga.
Hassett, a Laurel High School graduate, hopes to use the funds Manu raised from the My Cause My Cleats campaign to work on projects in Tonga that the player is especially passionate about.
“Once in a lifetime, weather events are happening annually, and there are very real people that are bearing the brunt of this,” Hassett said. “It will really take global action, innovative technology [and] innovative problem solving to address it.”