Currys unveil Eat, Learn, Play foundation for kids
expenses, so that other money raised will go entirely into the programs.
The couple want to make an impact in the worlds they care most about. Stephen is one of the most wellknown basketball players on the planet; Ayesha has a thriving culinary career and has, simultaneously, worked for years on childhood hunger issues. Raising healthy children is a priority for the parents of Riley, who turns 7 this week, Ryan, 4, and Canon, 1.
“We wanted to be involved in something that stems from our passions, that comes from that place of passion,” Ayesha said. “We were not thinking about what this does for our legacy, but about how to have a direct impact. How to help out the community.”
And that community is Oakland. At a time when it feels like professional sports and athletes are abandoning the East Bay, the Currys are doubling down. Their efforts, along with the Golden State Warriors Foundation and the team’s youth basketball camps, ensure a continued strong presence and direct impact in Oakland and the East Bay.
“Since we got here in 2009, this is our adopted home,” Stephen said. “We grew up as adults here, started our family here. We’ve had so much support through the last 10 years and Oakland has given us so many opportunities.
“The exact issues and needs of Oakland are what we want to address. We might be leaving as a team, and maybe as a family moving across the bridge, but we are not leaving Oakland.”
Eat, Learn, Play will partner with established organizations (including the Warriors) that are already working in the community. On Thursday, the foundation will launch, beginning with an event at Lake Merritt, with more than 800 children from Oakland Parks, Recreation & Youth Development Town Camps.
Nicholas Williams, the director of Oakland Parks and Recreation, said the foundation’s mission falls in line with what his department tries to provide to lowincome children, 20 percent of whom live below the poverty line and 71 percent who qualify for free or reduced lunch.
“We are trying to give kids a jumpstart in life,” Williams said.
The affiliation with the Currys, according to Williams, will be significant to the more than 4,000 kids who will be impacted.
“It helps to validate the work we are doing in Oakland, and helps us tap into a larger community,” Williams said. “And for the kids, it both validates them and provides some stability; the foundation is saying, ‘We’re here for you.’
“The kids don’t fully understand the business and why the Warriors are moving. It’s just another entity that’s leaving. But Steph is saying, ‘I’m planted here, here is access to us, I want to hang out with you guys.’ It’s amazing.”
One of the primary focuses will be addressing food insecurity. Billy Shore, executive director of No Kid Hungry, has worked with Ayesha for years on hunger issues. The foundation will partner with No Kid Hungry, a national nonprofit campaign, to provide access to breakfast and summer meal programs.
According to statistics provided by No Kid Hungry, 19 percent of California children live with food insecurity. Only 56.2 percent of eligible students access breakfast programs and only 18.3 percent use summer meal programs, when risk for hunger spikes. One of the foundation’s goals is to raise awareness and access to such programs by reducing the obstacles created by lack of education, language barriers or shame.
The correlations between nutrition and success in school, and high school graduation rates, are quantifiable. According to No Kid Hungry, children participating in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programs are 18 percent more likely to graduate from high school. The National Education Association labor union has documented links between better nutrition and academic achievement, improved attendance and reduction in behavioral issues.
“Stephen and Ayesha get that connection between nutrition and education and ability to perform at the highest level,” Shore said. “It sends a really strong message.”
Chris Helfrich, the president of the foundation, has known Stephen since they worked together on Nothing But Nets. The campaign to raise awareness to fight malaria, in part by bringing mosquito netting and other prevention to areas of need, was one of the young player’s first significant charitable endeavors.
“Philanthropy is part of who Steph is, part of who they are as a couple,” Helfrich said. “I saw that for a week at a refugee camp on the border of the Congo. They are very intentional about making an impact.”
The foundation will partner with several businesses, including Under Armour, Kaiser Permanente, Revolution Foods, Rakuten, Go Daddy and KaBOOM!, a national nonprofit advocating active lifestyles for children.
Eat, Learn, Play will provide educational support in the form of scholarships, mentorship and tutoring programs. It will also help refurbish and support sports infrastructure and youth sports in the Bay Area. While the nonprofit organization won’t directly lobby policymakers, the reach and leverage of the Currys will potentially influence change and awareness in areas that will further support underserved children.
While the foundation is based and focused in Oakland, the plan is to eventually expand its impact beyond the Bay Area.
But, like Curry himself, it starts in Oakland.
“All of my greatest memories are in Oakland and the East Bay,” Stephen said. “There’s a power in that.
“That is what we want to connect with.”