Joe Burrow Heisman Speech Inspires Donations to Local Food Pantry, Reach $365k

Joe Burrow's emotional tribute to his hometown during his Heisman acceptance speech has kick-started a national campaign to help out ... with over $115k raised for the local food pantry.

The LSU superstar brought awareness to the financial challenges surrounding Athens County, OH while tearing up on Saturday ... saying, “Coming from southeast Ohio it’s a very impoverished area and the poverty rate is almost two times the national average."

"There’s so many people there that don’t have a lot and I’m up here for all those kids in Athens and Athens County that go home to not a lot of food on the table, hungry after school. You guys can be up here too."

One Athens man was so moved by Burrow's message, he started a fundraiser to help put food on the tables for people in Athens.

"Let's answer Joey's call to action by supporting a local nonprofit that serves food to more than 5,000 households in Athens County each year," Will Drabold said in the post.

Of course, Burrow is beloved in his hometown ... and was an absolute beast for the Athens Bulldogs before becoming the best college player in the country.

The campaign started on Sunday ... and it's already raised a whopping $116,000 for the Athens County Food Pantry.

Props to all involved.

Also -- if you haven't watched all of Burrow's acceptance speech, the whole thing is amazing. Check it out.