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Posts Tagged ‘NBA Cares’

Laughing and giving back

Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Heeeeeeeyyyyy world!!!! I had all of the fellas laughing today when I slapped on a long blonde wig and went to take my NBA Drug test with the hair on. They show up four times a year for our drug tests and I just had to go into a room and pee in a cup. I just thought I’d spice things up a little bit with my wig and get a few strange looks from everybody.

I didn’t know until this afternoon that I got a Community Assist award from the NBA for the work that we’re doing with Florida Hospital to create a room for teenagers who are sick and hospitalized. I was down there a few weeks ago and had some fun with the kids and their smiles just give me so much happiness. I handed out a few Superman capes and played some video games with those guys and it was so much fun. And by winning that award I guess it means that the NBA Cares folks will be donating $5,000 more to the foundation.

Thanksgiving is coming up in a couple of days, and I thought I’d talk to you guys today about giving back. I have so much to be thankful for from basketball, to family, to life in general, and I want to show my thanks for that by trying to help others. Plenty of people helped me coming up, so I want to try and touch as many lives as I can as well.

The media asked me a bunch of questions today after practice about why I spend so much of my free time doing charity work in the community and the answer is really pretty simple: It’s because I just enjoy giving back. I’ve been given everything in this life that I could ever imagine. So a big part of my life outside of the NBA is giving back to other people less fortunate than me. So I take pride in giving back.

This is just something that I’ve been doing my whole, entire life. You can ask my parents, my homeboys back in Atlanta, or the people at my church – that’s just the way I’ve always been since I was a kid. If I had $5 I’d give my last $5 to somebody else who needs it more. If I saw you with no shirt on and you were cold, I’d give you my shirt.

I’ve tried to never change who I am as far as giving back and wanting to do for others. It’s just me, wanting to give my last so that others have enough.

We got a couple of tough games coming up with Miami and Atlanta, so if I don’t holla at ya’ll before Thanksgiving, ya’ll eat some turkey and dressing for me. Have a good holiday!!! Peace out to ya’ll all around the world!!!

—D-12

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Big Change For Kids

Friday, November 13th, 2009

Whazzzzz uuuuuup, ya’ll???? We got a game later against New Jersey, but I wanted to drop you guys a line before the game. Man, there’s a lot of former Magic guys on the Nets, although all of them are hurt. Courtney, Rafer and Tony helped us get to The Finals, and I guess the only one who might play against us is “Skip to My Lou.’’ And Keyon Dooling is out too with a hip problem.

I wanted to tell you guys about something a little different today. Rather than just focusing on our last game against Cleveland or the one coming up against New Jersey, I wanted to discuss some off-the-court stuff.

After all, ya’ll have heard me say before that basketball is just a part of my life and doesn’t totally define me as a person. Trust me, I want to win more than anybody else in the NBA and I wake up and go to sleep at night thinking about getting that gold ball in June. But there are other things in my life, too.

A couple of weeks back I visited Florida Hospital to try and lift the spirits of some of the little homies there. Those guys have such good hearts and such a good outlook on life even though they are sick. They just make me feel really good inside and put it all in perspective for me. When I do something like visiting those kids at the hospital, it doesn’t make losing a basketball game seem like the end of the world.

I got to go down there and pass out a few Superman capes to the kids and it was soooooooo cool seeing their smiles. Ya’ll know I had my cape on – the one I wore in the dunk contest last year. I signed a few of the capes for the kids and we played a lot of video games. Ya’ll know competitive I am, so I was in there trying to win everything. But I’ve got to say, they did get me a few times on NBA Live 10.

This program that we’re starting called “Dwight’s Big Change for Kids,’’ is actually pretty cool. We’re building a state-of-the-art game room especially for the teenaged kids who are sick and at Florida Hospital. It’s going to have flat-screen TVs, video games, board games and educational stuff, too.

I gotta say that I’ve seen the designs of the room, and it’s going to be pretty tight. I can’t wait to see the looks on some of those kids faces when they see all of the stuff in the new teen’s room.

I know we normally touch on basketball stuff here on the blog, but I thought ya’ll might want to know what else is going on in my life. After all, there’s more to life than basketball. If you can go out and help some of these sick kids some time, you should do it because I tell you it’s as much fun for me as it is those kids I think.

Well, I’m gonna run. Ya’ll be real and I’ll see ya at the arena.

—DWIGHT

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