Kyrie steps up for the hungry
Not all superheroes wear capes.
Some wear uniforms, and others wear jerseys. One superhero wears a Nets jersey with the No. 11 on it. Others across the NBA should follow his lead.
Kyrie Irving saved the day — or possibly the month — for underserved communities across the country with a $323,000 donation to Feeding America, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that operates with the goal of ending hunger in the country. It does so by supplying resources to food banks across America.
Irving, along with Feeding America, New York organization City Harvest and New Jersey-based food bank Lineage Logistics, will launch the “Share A Meal” campaign and distribute 250,000 meals to those who Irving called “my neighbors in need across the NY area.” Lineage Logistics will donate $200,000 of their own.
Irving made the $323,000 donation in honor of his March 23 birthday. The
Nets star was not immediately available for comment but made the announcement in a post on Instagram.
“Seeing the effects of COVID-19 reach our loved ones, our schools, our jobs, and access to food has really impacted me,” he wrote in the caption. “I am excited to partner with @feedingamerica and @lineagelogistics to launch the Share A Meal campaign to help marginalized communities get the food resources they require during this time, and to work with our local partner @cityharvestnyc to distribute 250k meals to my neighbors in need across the NY area.
“I am asking my fans, friends, family and partners to join me in helping our communities by donating at the link in my bio. Thank you to everyone on the front line working to keep all of us safe, healthy, and fed. Together we can change the world one small gesture at a time.
This is not the first time Irving has made a donation, or simply been generous with his money.
He previously donated $110,000 to his family’s Standing Rock Sioux Tribe with the stipulation the money be used to support the reservation’s youth. They put it toward drug abuse prevention and other programs.
In 2016, he donated 190 pairs of his own Kyrie 2 sneakers to the Cleveland Boys and Girls club. And earlier this season, he handed a stack of bills to the chaperone overseeing a group of young fans after an away game in Chicago. “Make sure it goes to a great place, all right?” he said before handing off the cash.
He also once gave a homeless man more than $240.
“That’s just who I am. I don’t do it for looks or anything like that,” he later explained. “I saw him when I was coming back from shooting in the morning and told him I had him next time I was coming out.
“I’m pretty sure he was going to be waiting there for me. I just had to bless that man. I’m really afforded a lot in this life that I play the game, the game that I love. I just love giving back. I told you my object is to heal the world. “
Irving has been afforded more than enough money.
He signed a four-year, $146 million max contract with the Nets over the summer. By the time that contract runs its course, he’ll have earned nearly $232 million on the court. That doesn’t include his offthe-court endorsement money, which according to Forbes, paid him $20 million through Oct. 2019.
There is no shortage of NBA players who make charitable donations of their own. Irving’s former teammate, LeBron James, started the I Promise School in his hometown of Akron, for kids who wouldn’t otherwise be able to get a high school education.
Derrick Rose created a scholarship fund of his own for high school students in his hometown of Chicago, and as the coronavirus outbreak takes not just the NBA, but the world by storm, players and entire organizations are taking care of arena staff members by paying their wages while the season has been suspended.