Augustin donates to aid health workers, plans to give more
D.J. Augustin knows what uncertain times look like.
Hurricane Katrina forced Augustin and his family from their home in New Orleans in 2005. They moved to Houston, where Augustin finished his senior year of high school before enrolling at the University of Texas.
The Orlando Magic point guard lives in Houston during the offseason but still very much considers New Orleans home.
Now, 15 years later, amid arguably one of the world’s most challenging health crises, Augustin is leaning on those experiences as he tries to do his part to make a difference.
On Thursday, Augustin made a financial donation to Krewe of Red Beans in New Orleans. The group is delivering food from New Orleans restaurants to healthcare workers on the front lines of the coronavirus battle.
An entry from the GoFundMe page set up on behalf of Krewe of Red Beans state money is being raised “to buy food-treats for hospital workers, doctors, nurses, tech, security, [etc.]” Nearly $40,000 has been raised since the GoFundMe page opened March 16.
Augustin is asking others to follow in his footsteps by going to redbeansparade.com.
Augustin and his wife, Brandy, recently talked about how they are dealing with the COVID-19 outbreak. Their entry was posted Tuesday on The Players’ Tribune as part of its “The Iso” series.
The two brought up their Katrina experiences.
“Yeah, we kind of know how to handle things in crisis mode now because of that experience. It’s strange to think that we were high school kids back when that happened, but now we’re the ones who have kids with this going on. It’s funny how things turn,” D.J. Augustin wrote. “This time at home definitely will teach us all, as humans, to cherish the things we have, the
people we have. You know, family time, quality time — focus on yourself and your family and maybe do things you never had the time to before.”
In addition to the New Orleans donation, Augustin and his wife appear poised to do more once the outbreak passes.
“Some of my teammates and me, we’re trying to put something together for the Magic — the workers at Amway Center. Also, me and Brandy have been talking about doing something once all of this is over, with our foundation — helping families out directly — picking a group of families or some type of charity to help out,” he wrote. “Like once all of this is over, once people can really see what damage has been done to their lives, we can see how we can help.”
Brandy Augustin agreed. She said it’s difficult to see where help is needed when you’re in the middle of a crisis.
“Right. After Katrina, there was a lot of work to do,” she wrote. “To tell you the truth, we didn’t know what we really needed until it was over.”
Augustin’s donation is another way the Magic have tried to lend a helping hand.
Also on Thursday, Aaron Gordon followed up his Wednesday contribution to help feed homeless children in the Orange County public school system with a donation to San Francisco-based nonprofit My New Red Shoes. Gordon grew up in the Bay area in nearby San Jose.
My New Red Shoes provides well-fitted shoes and clean clothing to children in need, according to the organization’s website mynewredshoes.org.
Earlier this month, Jonathan Isaac invested in a program with his local church, J.U.M.P Ministries, to feed school-aged children under 18 with grab-and-go breakfast and lunch boxes. His ProjectLifeNow.org effort will continue while the pandemic prevents children from eating at school.
In the wake of the NBA’s suspension of the regular season, the owners of the Magic, the DeVos Family, pledged up to $2 million to assist Amway Center hourly workers for lost games due to the shutdown. Magic centers Nikola Vucevic and Mo Bamba added additional funds for the workers.