NBA Finals MVP Kawhi Leonard is back in his hometown as a member of the Los Angeles Clippers and is making his presence felt as he joined the Clippers Foundation and non-profit Baby2Baby to give one million backpacks to students returning to school.
The Clippers stated in a release every student in the Moreno Valley Unified, Inglewood Unified, and Los Angeles Unified School Districts will have a new backpack for the first day of school. The giveaway was based at Cloverdale Elementary School.
“My goal this year is to make a meaningful contribution both on and off the court,” Leonard said. “This felt like the right way to get started. It was important to me to make this announcement in my hometown of Moreno Valley at my former Elementary School, but the benefits this program will have across all of Los Angeles makes today even more special.”
?? ?????.@kawhileonard returns to his Moreno Valley elementary school to kick off donating one million backpacks to SoCal students! pic.twitter.com/EDXc61m4bo
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) August 20, 2019
Leonard was joined by Baby2Baby Ambassadors Zooey Deschanel, Busy Philipps and Nicole Richie and Co-Presidents Kelly Sawyer Patricof and Norah Weinstein at 107th Street Elementary School in Watts to distribute backpacks in the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD).
“We are overwhelmed with gratitude to the Clippers and Kawhi Leonard for this record-breaking donation to every student in Los Angeles Unified School District and beyond. Baby2Baby serves hundreds of thousands of children in poverty in Los Angeles, and backpacks are consistently one of the most highly-requested items for the school-aged children in our program,” said Sawyer Patricof and Weinstein.
“There are a lot of families throughout the L.A. region working hard every day to earn everything in their lives. This program is our effort to extend a hand to make heading back to school a little easier,” said Gillian Zucker, President of Business Operations, L.A. Clippers