Mark Ingram first asked the 36 children seated before him to raise a hand if they had at least one parent in prison, and when most did, he asked how it made them feel.
"It made me sad," Ingram said.
He would know. The New Orleans Saints running back during his childhood saw his father, former NFL receiver Mark Ingram Sr., put in jail for a short period of time.
Ingram recalled that feeling Monday as he spoke to the children as part of a $100 holiday shopping spree put on by his The Mark Ingram Foundation, which is committed to helping underprivileged children across the U.