Aaron Gordon, D.J. Augustin do their parts for Orlando and beyond
Aaron Gordon and D.J. Augustin announced contributions to community services in Orlando and in their hometowns to support efforts to fight coronavirus.
These are unprecedented times in the world.
Basketball and the rest of the sporting world have been put on hold to try to flatten the curve and slow the spread of the coronavirus. Cities have shut down — Orange County will be the latest to the join others with stay-home orders beginning Thursday for the next two weeks.
The NBA’s decision to shut its doors was one of the biggest dominos to fall to get the public to take the pandemic seriously.
The amount of disruption to real-world problems this has caused is still pretty stark. Many businesses have shut down — some ordered to close temporarily — and life in many ways has come to a standstill for many. That slow-down has put people in major financial binds because the world still spins even as we deal with the crisis.
Schools closing has shut off an important outlet for children. For too many, unfortunately, schools are the only way for many children to access hot meals during the day. Jonathan Isaac already announced his plan to help those children in the need, teaming up with Project Life to provide hot meals for the duration of the pandemic.
Aaron Gordon too is stepping up his contribution to the community, publicly announcing two initiatives to support Central Florida.
Aaron Gordon announced he had made a contribution to the Homeless Education Fund with Orange County Public Schools and encouraged others to donate to the Foundation for OCPS to support public schools.
Gordon also stepped up to contribute to My New Red Shoes, a charitable organization in the San Francisco area that provides shoes and clothing children in need. Especially during a time when the usual outlets for these children are closed off, these gifts provide a huge benefit to students.
Education has long been at the center of Gordon’s charitable efforts. This summer, he invited several Orange County Public School students to a summer coding camp to learn about technology and computers when they otherwise might not have gotten exposure to that career path.
Gordon was exposed to a good education early in his life and he has clearly endeavored to pay that forward with his charitable work.
For many players, it seems like they were gathering information on where there was the most need before announcing their charitable donations during these unprecedented times.
NBA players have indeed used their means to support their communities where they can in these unprecedented times.
D.J. Augustin is also doing his part.
He donated to Krewe of Red Beans in his hometown of New Orleans. That organization provides meals from local restaurants to healthcare workers fighting the coronavirus.
This is in addition to donations both Aaron Gordon and D.J. Augustin made to the compensation fund supported by the DeVos family for arena workers and team employees.
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The Orlando Magic are definitely stepping up to support their community.