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NBA players give back to children
Give back: Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker puts several children’s items into a backpack as part of his community work with non-profit organization Baby2Baby in Los Angeles during an NBA All Star celebrity game on Friday
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span class="inline inline-center">Give back: Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker puts several children’s items into a backpack as part of his community work with non-profit organization Baby2Baby in Los Angeles during an NBA All Star celebrity game on Friday. (JP/Primastuti Handayani)
For NBA players, whose salaries reach millions of dollars per year, helping the underprivileged is a way to give back to the community.
One player who loves to reach out to the Phoenix community in particular is Devin Booker. But Booker not only helps those in Phoenix. During the NBA All Stars weekend in Los Angeles, United States, he personally helped out at Baby2Baby, a non-profit organization that provides basic necessities to children aged zero to twelve years old. On Friday, he helped pack backpacks with school supplies, clothes and included a special note written by himself for each child.
“That’s incredible. This event that the NBA puts on shows it’s bigger than basketball. You’re affecting people’s lives. I think this is a great event,” said the Phoenix Suns guard.
Booker praised his parents who had taught him the importance of giving back to society.
“That’s just how I was raised. At the same time, I’ve witnessed it with my own eyes being around people that are less fortunate. I have really close friends who are less fortunate. Anything I can do to help them, I always want to do.”
He also acknowledged that he was in a position to change lives.
“Through an event like this, you realize what you play for. You can change people’s lives in a positive way. We’re fortunate enough to be in a situation like we’re in the NBA, to have a lot of fortune and wealth. To give back to others, give some more time to help others,” he added.
Booker is reported to be on a salary of US$2.32 million for the 2017/2018 season and is expected to earn $4.58 million for the 2019/2020 season.
Another player who stopped by at Baby2Baby was Wayne Ellington from the Miami Heat.
Like Booker, Ellington also packed backpacks filled with school supplies and clothes and wrote notes to each child.
“This activity will be able to help others, to help someone else’s child and it means a lot,” he said. “As an NBA player, I realize that the most important thing is to be help others, to able to give back and put a smile on their faces.”
“There are people out there that are unfortunate so we’re in a position to be able to do that,” said the shooting guard, whose salary for the 2017/2018 season is $6.27 million.
Baby2Baby was established in 2006 by long-time friends Karis Jagger, Marnie Owens and Lee Michel and was dedicated to improving the lives of impoverished families with children under four years of age. It has distributed 34 million items, most of them are diapers, according to its official website.
In 2017, Baby2Baby 2 the Rescue was launched as an emergency response program. It has distributed over four million basic essentials to children in shelters affected by hurricanes across Texas, Florida and Puerto Rico as well as fires in Northern and Southern California.
Apart from the involvement of NBA stars, Baby2Baby also receives support and donations from Hollywood stars including Jessica Alba, Blake Lively and Drew Barrymore.
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— The Jakarta Post was invited by the NBA to attend the All-Star Weekend
