GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Green Bay Packers coach Mike McCarthy, the son of a long-time Pittsburgh police officer and firefighter, made a $100,000 donation on Thursday to the recently founded Green Bay Police Foundation.

The foundation was formed in July as a way to build relationships between the community and public safety officers.

"My goal is be part of the solution to make our community better," said McCarthy, whose father served as a police officer for eight years and a firefighter for 30 years.

Packers president Mark Murphy then announced the team would match McCarthy’s donation.

"Obviously, it's very personal for him," Murphy said.

The donations will be used to help improve partnerships between the police and the community.

"This is a very difficult time for our country and really need program like this that bring people together, bring communities together, particularly public safety and community members, and really start listening to each other and having a discussion instead of trying to win the debate," Murphy said. "This is something that could be well be a role model for other cities around the country.

"This is really something that at the league level, the league just recently is starting to talk about unity initiatives, what teams might be able to do. We saw this opportunity and the timing was really perfect. This is exactly the kind of program that we need."