When celebs do good: Lessons from my tween

Team Giannis will be playing for Raise the Future during the 2023 All-Star Game.

“Tell me everything you know about Giannis Antetokounmpo,” I said to my 12-year-old son last week over breakfast. I was staring in disbelief at my cell phone screen, which had suddenly begun pinging nonstop with rapid-fire texts.

“It’s pronounced Yannis, not ‘Gee-annis,’” he said witheringly through a mouthful of scrambled eggs. “He’s basically the most famous basketball player ever, Mom. Why?”

I stuck my tongue out at him and grinned, scanning the text chain. The NBA had just announced that “Team Giannis,” led by All-Star team captain Giannis Antetokounmpo in Saturday’s NBA All-Star Game, had chosen Raise the Future to be its 2023 nonprofit beneficiary.

This meant that not only will our organization receive national exposure and a transformational six-figure donation from the NBA and All-Star Game sponsors, but that over 100 of our youth and families will be able to attend the game.

I sent a trail of exclamation points and heart emojis to the group, thrilled that the NBA is continuing its tradition of supporting nonprofits that are local to the city in which the All-Star Game is located each year. And proud that Raise the Future will be in the company of past recipients The United Negro College Fund, Second Harvest Food Bank and Right Moves for Youth (Team Giannis’s 2019 pick), and alongside team captain LeBron James’ 2023 pick, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Utah.

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I turned to my son. He is a kid who wakes up two hours before school to shoot hoops in our ice-encrusted alley, and who papered his bedroom walls with posters of his basketball idols. “Team Giannis chose Raise the Future for this year’s All-Star Game,” I said, not knowing how – or if – any of this would land. “They’re donating money to help us do our work, and by choosing us they’re showing that kids living in foster care are important and deserve our support.”

He processed this for a moment. My son joined our family via adoption five years ago and is no stranger to the challenges that youth in foster care face. For this reason, he has always been keenly interested in my work. “You can never leave your work, Mom!” he’ll warn if I even mention being tired after a long day or act stressed over a project. “You have to keep helping those kids.”

Now he fixed his eyes on me. “Let me get this straight,” he said. “Giannis is gonna help find families for kids that need them?” 

“Not exact-“ I started to say, but he had already jumped out of his chair, grabbing my phone to look at the press release on my phone. “I know why he picked your company, Mom,” he said urgently, eyes wide with excitement as he danced from one foot to another. “He knows what it’s like to have a hard life growing up.”

Over the next 10 minutes, he rattled off about a dozen facts from memory about the 28-year-old star, his words tumbling over each other: “He has four brothers! He’s from Africa and had to move to another country, just like I did! He didn’t start playing basketball until he was older, just like me!” And finally, “He’s a good man Mom, he does a lot for other people, like getting diapers for babies and stuff” (I found out later he was referencing this cool initiative with the Milwaukee Diaper Mission).

I listened and laughed, marveling at how closely he has been paying attention to the private life of this very public figure.

As a Development Director for Raise the Future, I have a pretty good idea of what an incredible impact Team Giannis’s financial support will have for the youth and families that use our services. But I hadn’t thought much about what this young superstar’s endorsement meant to the kids we serve until that breakfast conversation with my son.

Over the next week, I overheard my son tell his buddies on his basketball team and at school about what Team Giannis is doing to support kids in foster care. He is not one to draw attention to his childhood experiences, but something about this acknowledgment from one of his idols changed that.

On February 19, our family will be cheering for Team Giannis from the couch, along with thousands of others in the stadium and around the country.

As an adoption professional, I’m so grateful for this generous gift on behalf of the many kids and families that need it. And as a mom, I’m so grateful for role models like Giannis Antetokounmpo, who show kids like my son what it means to lead, both on and off the court.

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Raise the Future – an organization that connects youth waiting in foster care with adults who become stable forces that last a lifetime. For more information visit www.raisethefuture.org