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A New Place to Play in Oakland
By Adonal Foyle
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My charity (the Kerosene Lamp Foundation), worked together with the Good Tidings Foundation to help refurbish a basketball court at Willie Williams Memorial Park in Oakland. On August 28, we unveiled the new court and held a free basketball clinic for 50 kids. It was extraordinary to see the looks on their faces.
As a professional basketball player, I've always felt it was the moral responsibility of the pro athlete to give back to the community that supports them. More importantly, if you understand that the littlest things can have a ripple effect in the lives of children, and if you give kids a space to play in, you're giving them a safe haven. Creating a safe area for kids to play and have fun is one of the best things you can do for a child. Because you are giving them the opportunity and the tools necessary to learn valuable skills that can help them in all walks of life. So I am extremely touched. Larry Harper of the Good Tidings Foundation has done an amazing job of helping us put this project together. Hopefully, this will serve as a model for other athletes to give back to the community. What Larry has done to this small area in Oakland has been miraculous. I was beyond excited. And seeing the faces of the 50 kids who got to be the first to play on the court really showed me that we were being of service to them. I am beyond happy.
I'll never forget how the Bay Area treated me during my 10 years of playing here. I always tell people "Once you live in the Bay Area, there's really nowhere else you can live and be absolutely happy." I love Florida and I'm a Florida resident. But in a lot of ways, the Bay Area will always be a place where I was created. I've gotten to know a lot of people who've been phenomenal in so many levels. I will always be a Bay Area native. The person that I am today has a lot to do with the experiences I've had in the Bay Area.
I've been absolutely pleased with the progress of the Kerosene Lamp Foundation. What's been really great is that we're now starting to realize KLF's full potential and it's influence on children. We've always wanted to use basketball as a bridge to talk to young people, to empower them and show them how they can light the path and illuminate their dreams - like a kerosene lamp. Now, we're able to add the secondary components, not just the basketball camps. Now, we can include something like what we did in building a basketball court. One of our missions is to help create a sporting area for kids to play in. So, I'm very happy about this. Next, we're looking to do something in New Orleans as well as doing something in the inner cities in the Caribbean. Now that we were able to do something like build a basketball court somewhere in the United States has really given me a sense of satisfaction. And we don't plan to stop here.
- Adonal
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