LA Clippers Players Help the Needy

It's always great to see celebrities giving back — proof that all that star status hasn't inflated their egos too much! And for some LA Clippers players, their heads — and hearts — are definitely in the right place.

According to an LA Times story, players from the Los Angeles Clippers donated their time this weekend to help South Los Angeles' needy. The basketball players partnered with the Salvation Army and Feed the Children to give out food and other goods to neighborhood families.

For two Clippers players, point guard Baron Davis and forward Craig Smith, the day of giving was also a chance to visit their old haunts. Both players grew up in the neighborhood, and Davis even had his first basketball practice one block from the site.

Typically the Salvation Army saves its major giveaway days for the holidays, but due to the recession, the charity scheduled this weekend's donation. In the past year, South LA's Salvation Army has seen a 175 percent increase in demand for its free food and products.

"We've seen people coming here for food who used to give to the Salvation Army," Mortimer Jones, executive director of the South LA center, told the LA Times.

The Clippers players along with other volunteers helped give out personal hygiene products, makeup, canned goods like carrots and kidney beans, rice and macaroni. In all, about 800 needy families received a little help from really big basketball players.

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia Commons.