Anthony Tolliver of the Minnesota Timberwolves is doing his part to prove that the NBA Cares campaign isn’t just a contrived PR effort from the NBA.
Tolliver plans on holding a basketball clinic for tornado-affected youths in Joplin, Mo., this coming week. He grew up roughly 45 minutes from Joplin, in Springfield, Mo.
“Tons of lives were lost and tons of stuff was lost,” Tolliver said Friday, according to the Associated Press. “People’s homes and cars and businesses and all kinds of stuff is just gone. It is what it is, and all I can do is try to help as much as possible.”
Tolliver will make his way to Joplin today to lend a hand with cleanup efforts, and will host the basketball clinic (free for K-8 youths!) on Wednesday. For those in the Joplin area, the clinic will take place at Sports Park of Southwest Missouri.
“This was an opportunity to give the kids a chance to get away from all the destruction and just go have some fun for a few hours and use basketball as a way to give back,” Tolliver said.
At least 122 people were killed in the tornado, which struck Joplin on May 23, and the storm damaged or destroyed more than 8,000 homes in the area. Despite the destruction of four schools, the Joplin schools chief swore that the district would be ready to reopen by the start of next school year.
For more of EdWeek‘s coverage of the storms that have ripped through the South this spring, see our photo gallery and story about states easing rules for tornado-damaged schools.