Milwaukee Bucks star Damian Lillard has had a partnership with the Boys & Girls Club for quite a while now. Dating back to his days with the Portland Trail Blazers, Dame has taken time out of his busy schedule to make sure to reach out to the kids that are supported by this organization — not to mention the donations he’s made through the years.
On Tuesday, Lillard restarted a new tradition now that he’s in Milwaukee. He did so by giving the Boys & Girls Club of Greater Milwaukee an awesome surprise.
Milwaukee Bucks Star Damian Lillard Gives Back
This isn’t just any gesture for Lillard as he looks to give back to the community. This means a whole lot to the seven-time All-Star, given that he himself is an alumni of the organization:
“I grew up in the Boys & Girls Club,” Lillard told Jim Owczarski of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. “As a kid I went to the Boys & Girls Club. Just knowing what it’s about. A lot of times you got to the Boys & Girls Club, your parents gotta work, your family is busy and they need you to be able to be dropped off somewhere that’s productive, whether that’s sports, arts and crafts, activities and stuff like that.
“A lot of stuff that I picked up as a kid I picked up in the Boys & Girls Club. Everybody can’t afford to have nannies and daycares and all that kind of stuff, so you need something like that that’s public. You build a lot of your friendships. You learn how to protect yourself and defend yourself and speak up for yourself, usually, in those type of environments.
“So for me it was like, once I got here coming from something like that, how do you encourage kids to continue to believe in that type of system?”
Lillard is one of the select few who was able to pull himself out of poverty. He knows all too well that this won’t be the case for most of the kids in the Boys & Girls Club, which is why it’s important for him to do whatever he can to put them in a better position to succeed. Or, at the very least, put a smile on their faces.
This is exactly what the 33-year-old did in his recent visit by surprising the children with new shoes as well as tickets to Wednesday night’s big game against the Indiana Pacers at the Fiserv Forum:
Last night, @Dame_Lillard had a special surprise for kids from @BGCMilwaukee.@adidasHoops x @Kohls pic.twitter.com/8adMpHtvus
— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) December 13, 2023
Making a Difference
Lillard also went on to say how much he values the position he is in as well as how he makes sure to use his platform to help those who are in need — something that he experienced firsthand as a kid.
“It’s extremely important, man,” he said. “I grew up in a household where my mom (Gina Johnson) did something for everybody. My dad (Houston) did something for everybody. As I got older I saw the impact of it. I see the respect that my parents have from people that they did things for in quiet. Nobody knew about it, but they were doing it. They were helping them.
“So I see the kind of respect and the kind of change that it can cause in people’s lives, just from my own parents and my grandparents. I see value in it. I see how important it is. These kids, they’re not going to get this experience all the time. This is not something they’re going to have all the time and it only takes a little bit of my time and a little bit of effort from me to be willing to do it. A lot of these kinds will never forget it.
“It’s honestly a simple thing for me. I love to know that I’m being of service to other people.”
Damian Lillard is a hero on and off the court.
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