NBA Star John Wall Donates $400,000 To Help Homeless Kids with Child Care & Education - http://urbanintellectuals.com

By F. Taylor -  September 29, 2015

Not all good deeds go unnoticed and hopefully will not only bring notoriety to the philanthropic person, but inspire the rest of us to get off our butts, stop talking about it and helping out those less fortunate than us.

NBA star and point guard for the Washington Wizards John Wall decided to make a difference in his corner of the world this week. He donated almost a half million dollars to a homeless organization that focuses on serving children whose families are in shelters or transitional housing.

The name of the organization is Bright Beginnings. According to the Huffington Post, the charity services over 160 kids each day. They made a Facebook page announcement this past Friday touting Wall’s donation and commitment to children and families.

“Support from individuals like Mr. Wall, gives Bright Beginnings the encouragement to continue to provide comprehensive services for homeless children in the District of Columbia,” Betty Jo Gaines, the organization’s executive director, said in the statement. “It is evident that John Wall is sensitive and concerned about the plight of homeless children in D.C. and he wants these children to succeed.”

Bright Beginnings deals with the younger kids on the age range, focusing on preschool-age children and younger. However, it hopes to add an additional school to service another 100 children a day, no word on the age range, but the assumption is it will remain the same.

Wall made the donation through his charitable foundation called John Wall Family Foundation.

Hats off to Mr. Wall, his foundation and his efforts to make a difference in his corner of the world. If more of us would stop complaining and follow the example of these great people making a difference, the world would be a better place.

And no, we all don’t have $400,000 to spare, but we do have something and let’s not neglect the importance of volunteering our time.

Source: HuffingtonPost

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RESPECT: Shaquile O’Neal Plans on Opening a Free Children’s Hospital in Baton Rouge - http://urbanintellectuals.com

By Anthony Thomas -

July 6, 2016

Widely regarded as one of the world’s most dominant athletes, Shaquille O’Neal is probably the most gregarious personality in Basketball history. He has an autobiography (Shaquille Talks Back) and preserves a web presence for his worldwide fan base using his image as basketball’s great jokester, but we aren’t talking about his career today.

We are discussing the philanthropic aims of Shaq, who has done a lot of work for people all around the world throughout his NBA career and during retirement.

Shaq has said he plans to launch a new children’s hospital in Baton Rouge, LA that would be completely free. Whoa!!

From Cody Worsham for Tiger Rag (via SLAM):

It was a spur of the moment declaration from Dr. O’Neal, who was addressing the media ahead of his induction into the Louisiana Sports Hall of Fame on Saturday, June 29.

“I wasn’t supposed to announce this, but I’m going to do it anyway,” Dr. O’Neal said. “I had a talk with the powers that be in Baton Rouge, and my plan is to build a Shaquille O’Neal children’s hospital. That’s my plan, so that right now is in the works, and hopefully it gets done. ”

Dr. O’Neal said the idea has been discussed for two years, and his goal is to join with Our Lady of the Lake “to build the biggest, freest hospital in the state of Louisiana.”

“All sick children can come for free,” he said. “That’s my vision.” […]

Dr. O’Neal’s announcement couldn’t come at a better time for Louisiana. Faced with budget shortfalls, the state has cut funding to hospitals by $260 million dollars in recent years, according to testimony by House Speaker Chuck Kleckley during the legislative session in May.

Such funding cuts have led Gov. Bobby Jindal — who has continued to reject federal Medicaid expansion that would provide the state more immediate dollars under the Affordable Care Act, citing the law’s inflexibility — to seek private sources of funding for many of the state’s public hospitals.

Read more: http://urbanintellectuals.com/2016/07/06/respect-shaquile-oneal-plans-on-opening-a-free-childrens-hospital-in-baton-rouge/#ixzz4EW4iTtVf 

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Naturally, it takes a lot of time and money to build a hospital, but if anyone can do something for the children in Baton Rouge, it would be this big man with a bigger heart!

Many believe Shaq was influenced by a father with a military background, Shaquille has made public service the other part of his life, and his contributions to society range from donations to organizations and charities across the United States to working part-time as a police office in Miami, Los angels, and phoenix, but it is believed this would be his first venture into free hospital support for children.

Here’s to hoping Shaq can pull of the St. Jude’s Children Research Hospital inspired model to help the children of the Baton Rouge area.

Read more: http://urbanintellectuals.com/2016/07/06/respect-shaquile-oneal-plans-on-opening-a-free-childrens-hospital-in-baton-rouge/#ixzz4EW4pN1i9 

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PUBLIC NOTE: The opinions expressed in this article are the author's own and do not reflect the view of the Urban Intellectuals, affiliates or partners.