Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte says he’s “ready to roll” in the team’s Sunday Night Football matchup in Baltimore, but he’s just as excited to start giving back to the New England community.

Boutte, enjoying a breakout third NFL season, turned into Santa for a group of kids from across Greater Boston on Friday, treating them to sports apparel and merchandise on his dime, and in partnership with DICK’S Sporting Goods.

Before he departs to Baltimore with his teammates on Saturday, Boutte stopped by DICK’S House of Sport on Boylston Street and gifted $150 of his personal money to 10 individual kids looking to purchase sweet swag.

DICK’S also chipped in, supplying $150 for each kid.

“I’m just getting started,” Boutte told the Herald of giving back to the community. “I always was about the kids throughout my whole life, but it finally feels good to partner with someone to give back to the community.”

“I could just see the looks on the kids’ faces, the families’ faces – it meant a lot to them,” the receiver added. “I’m very grateful for them.”

Excitement was palpable amongst the group of youngsters.

Coeli Mwangi, 13, a student at Fay boarding school in Southboro, has been a Patriots fan for the past few years. She’s pumped up to put the apparel she bought through Boutte’s generosity into use. But Mwangi called seeing Boutte giving back to the community a “gift in itself.”

“I feel almost starstruck,” Mwangi told the Herald, smiling from ear to ear after interacting with Boutte. “I didn’t know what to do, and then it hit me a few seconds later. I was like, ‘Wow, I’m really here with a professional athlete, and he’s paying for me.’”

Anneesa Mutisyia, an eighth-grader at the Fay boarding school, said she looks forward to seeing her sister’s reaction to the gift she got her through Boutte’s event.

“I was just really excited that I got the opportunity to meet a Patriots player,” Mutisyia said, “and also the opportunity to get things for sports that I really needed and for my sister because she’s really good at basketball.”

DICK’S House of Sport partnered with the Ron Burton Training Village in hosting Boutte’s surprise holiday shopping spree.

“This is awesome,” Matt Catacchio, field marketing manager for DICK’S, told the Herald. “This is probably one of the more fun events that we do all year, just to be able to see a professional athlete, like this, on a team, like the Patriots, that’s having a great season, wanting to give back to the kids.”

Boutte has been a key piece to the 11-3 Patriots’ offense, thriving with second-year quarterback Drake Maye and first-year head coach Mike Vrabel. Despite missing two games earlier this season, Boutte sits at 30 receptions, 511 receiving yards and six touchdowns.

Boutte’s on-field production took a backseat on Friday.

“As athletes, we’re in a good situation,” Boutte said. “Some people decide to give back, some people don’t. At the end of the day, everybody is their own person, but we are never above anybody. 
We’re all equal, and it never hurts to help.”

The receiver has fought through adversity to be the offensive weapon that he has grown into for Maye.

Boutte was a five-star recruit when he landed at LSU, and he was once viewed as a potential first-round pick. But injuries and off-field issues plagued the end of his college career, and he fell toward the bottom of the 2023 draft.

On Friday, the 23-year-old reflected on his past while soaking in the holiday spirit.

“Any situation that you go through is temporary; it’s never really permanent,” Boutte said. “Everybody’s got the ups and downs of life, things that they’ve got to go through, but at the end of the day, it’s all about how you come out on the other side.”

Boston’s Aneyli Tejeda (left), Janelly Sanchez, and Patriots wide receiver Kayshon Boutte admire a Patriots letterman’s jacket during a holiday shopping event at DICK’S House of Sport Boston. (Libby O’Neill/Boston Herald)