The NBA Cares.
December 25th 2006 01:00
In this holiday season when a lot of us tend to get caught up in the myopia of our own little world and what presents we have received it’s easy to forget that we’re the fortunate ones. This writer celebrates the luxury of being able to write about basketball on a daily basis without much concern for anything else and I appreciate that fact.
Recently, the NBA has experienced a number of PR disasters that have sullied the sports image but this focus on a few bad apples (pun intended) takes away from the good and charitable acts that many of the players engage in.
Believe it or not, the NBA is a good global citizen and encourages its players to do noble deeds for those less fortunate. Charles Barkley may have once remarked that he is no role model, but the reality is that he and many NBA players are looked up to. So it is of the utmost importance that they try to become the best people they can be.
The social responsibility initiative in the league is called ‘NBA Cares’ which is involved in a number of charitable acts that benefit the wider community at large.
• Read to Achieve is a campaign to encourage youngsters about the value of the written word, while trying to foster a life long love affair with the simple act of reading. NBA players regularly interact with young kids with the Read to Achieve initiative and it is a laudable cause.
• Basketball without Borders is a global campaign that spans through Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa in developing leadership qualities amongst its participants with an emphasis on education and social awareness.
Perhaps the biggest NBA cares program at this time is the Nothing But Nets campaign that is urging individuals to donate $10 which pays for an insecticide treated bed net that prevents the spread of malaria, which in turn can protect a family from this mosquito borne disease for up to four years.
Nothing But Nets is run by the NBA in conjunction with the United Nations Foundation with 100% of the donations going to this grassroots campaign. The nets have been proven to be 90% effective and the $10 cost for these protective barriers are peanuts for us, but out of reach for most of the poorest people in places that malaria is still prevalent.
Send a net. Save a life.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the charitable deeds that the NBA family engages in. So, the next time you hear about the ‘thug life’ imagery that is so prevalent in criticism directed towards the NBA please take a moment to reflect on NBA campaigns such as Nothing But Nets.
Finally, Sports Illustrated writer and a journalistic god for NBALOUD, Rick Reilly, recently travelled to Nigeria to see how the Nothing But Nets campaign was panning out. Please, check out the clip.
www.nothingbutnets.net
Recently, the NBA has experienced a number of PR disasters that have sullied the sports image but this focus on a few bad apples (pun intended) takes away from the good and charitable acts that many of the players engage in.
Believe it or not, the NBA is a good global citizen and encourages its players to do noble deeds for those less fortunate. Charles Barkley may have once remarked that he is no role model, but the reality is that he and many NBA players are looked up to. So it is of the utmost importance that they try to become the best people they can be.
The social responsibility initiative in the league is called ‘NBA Cares’ which is involved in a number of charitable acts that benefit the wider community at large.
• Read to Achieve is a campaign to encourage youngsters about the value of the written word, while trying to foster a life long love affair with the simple act of reading. NBA players regularly interact with young kids with the Read to Achieve initiative and it is a laudable cause.
• Basketball without Borders is a global campaign that spans through Asia, Europe, the Americas and Africa in developing leadership qualities amongst its participants with an emphasis on education and social awareness.
Perhaps the biggest NBA cares program at this time is the Nothing But Nets campaign that is urging individuals to donate $10 which pays for an insecticide treated bed net that prevents the spread of malaria, which in turn can protect a family from this mosquito borne disease for up to four years.
Nothing But Nets is run by the NBA in conjunction with the United Nations Foundation with 100% of the donations going to this grassroots campaign. The nets have been proven to be 90% effective and the $10 cost for these protective barriers are peanuts for us, but out of reach for most of the poorest people in places that malaria is still prevalent.
Send a net. Save a life.
Couldn’t have put it better myself.
This is just the tip of the iceberg of the charitable deeds that the NBA family engages in. So, the next time you hear about the ‘thug life’ imagery that is so prevalent in criticism directed towards the NBA please take a moment to reflect on NBA campaigns such as Nothing But Nets.
Finally, Sports Illustrated writer and a journalistic god for NBALOUD, Rick Reilly, recently travelled to Nigeria to see how the Nothing But Nets campaign was panning out. Please, check out the clip.
www.nothingbutnets.net
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