Kawhi Leonard is back in his home area of Southern California, and now that he’s a member of the Los Angeles Clippers he’s decided to get into the swing of charitable giving.
Leonard recently decided to team up with the Clippers organization to give out one million backpacks to children in need as a way to relieve some of the pressure from low-income families as students head back to school in the fall.
The Clippers and the NBA star worked with Baby2Baby, an organization that provides for low-income children from ages 0 to 12 for basic necessities. This week, Leonard started giving away backpacks to the Moreno Valley Unified, Los Angeles Unified, Inglewood Unified school districts. Leonard went to school in the Moreno Valley system as a kid.
Via the OC Register and Twitter:“Going to the NBA, this is what I wanted to do; I wanted to give back to my community,” said Leonard, who started his day in Moreno Valley, where he brought backpacks to Cloverdale Elementary, his old school. “That’s why I’m so happy to be back home.”
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“With the Clippers, just want you to know we got you guys’ back, as long as you work hard and have a goal set,” said Leonard, who Tuesday was working to fulfill one of his own.
“That’s a goal of mine for this year, being great on and off the court,” he said. “And I felt like this was a great way to start.”
Back to school in LA today, where Kawhi Leonard, the @LAClippers Foundation and nonprofit community partner Baby2Baby are giving some of one million backpacks intended to reduce stress on low-income families headed back to school across SoCal. pic.twitter.com/LMhUlImR0Q
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) August 20, 2019
Kawhi says the Clippers got the kids’ back. pic.twitter.com/tsKtViOEWn
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) August 20, 2019
Million of these soon to be circulating LA and MoVal. pic.twitter.com/GOBv4SIMDX
— Mirjam Swanson (@MirjamSwanson) August 20, 2019
This is an extremely cool and directly effective way to give back to the community. Helping disadvantaged kids in need directly has a ripple effect on their lives, and anything players like Leonard can do to help is a huge win for the children in these districts.
