NBA All-Star Weekend Is About Much More Than Just Basketball

If you're an NBA fan like I am, you know that one of the best weekends of the entire season is All-Star weekend. The NBA really packs in the entertainment, from the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge to the Geico H.O.R.S.E. competition, the Foot Locker Three-Point Contest, and the Sprite Slam Dunk event. There are more events, of course, and I haven't even mentioned the actual All-Star game yet, where stars like LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, Carmelo Anthony and Dwight Howard will wow the 90,000-plus fans at Cowboys Stadium Sunday night. But what you might not know as much about is how involved the NBA and its players are in the North Texas community leading up to and throughout All-Star weekend.

In order to find out more about what the NBA calls its NBA Cares All-Star Community Caravan, I spoke with Todd Jacobson, vice president of NBA Community Relations, who filled me in on both the NBA Cares program and the five days of community events that take place in North Texas.

NBA Cares is the league's global social responsibility initiative, which began in 2005 with three areas of focus: Education, Youth and Family Development, and Health and Wellness. So far, in a little more than four years, those participating in the program have raised and contributed more than $120 million to charity, have donated over 1 million hours of hands-on community service, and have created more than 450 places for children and families to live, learn or play.

The initiative is year-round and, as Jacobson pointed out, "NBA Cares began with Commissioner Stern and uses the values of the game to demonstrate leadership in social responsibility. Whether it's through the events this week at All-Star or our players and teams' efforts in their communities, it's something that is part of our mission as a league."

That mission was readily apparent this week in North Texas, as the NBA Cares All-Star Community Caravan rode into town on Wednesday and went right to work. They started off in the morning at a program called the Vogel Alcove in Dallas, which provides homeless children with services and daycare while their parents are at work. The league brought in both NBA and Dallas Mavericks legends, along with Mavericks players, to spend time with the kids and the staff. Next came a Reading Rally featuring former first lady Laura Bush at Farrell Elementary School in Arlington, where the league held a school assembly and then dedicated a Reading & Learning Center in partnership with HP and "got milk?" That was followed by a visit to Cook Children's Hospital in Fort Worth, to spend some time with patients. They then closed the day out as NBA and WNBA players and legends joined National Wheelchair Basketball Association All-Stars, who came in from across the country, in hosting a basketball clinic for local wheelchair-bound young athletes at the recently opened Mark Cuban Heroes Basketball Facility in Dallas (Cuban being the owner of the hometown Dallas Mavericks).

On Thursday, there were two main events. First was the Vaccines for Teens event, where basketball legends encouraged teenagers at the William James Middle School in Fort Worth to get vaccinated for things like whooping cough, meningitis, and the flu, doing so in partnership with Sanofi Pasteur. The second event was the NBA FIT All-Star Youth Celebration, which took place at three different locations, one each in Arlington, Dallas and Fort Worth. There were nine simultaneous FIT clinics taking place, where players and legends helped promote health and wellness, and well-being, to kids and their parents.

The cornerstone event for the league took place on Friday, which was the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service. More than 1,500 volunteers, including members of the NBA family, NBA All-Stars and league partners, mobilized to do service projects at three different locations, one in Arlington and two in Dallas. The project in Arlington was the KaBOOM! Build at Summit International Preparatory, where the NBA and partners KaBOOM! and Adidas built a 5,000-square-foot playground. The second project took place at Burnet Elementary School with the North Texas Volunteer Center Project, to improve both interior and exterior parts of the school, as the league partnered with HP and Best Buy. Lastly, on Macon Street in Dallas, the league joined with Rebuilding Together and Timberland to renovate five homes, helping some residents who'd been there for between 50 to 60 years.

And if you think certain players might get a pass, think again. As Jacobson noted, "All the players that are here for All-Star Weekend roll up their sleeves to participate in our All-Star Day of Service. A number of them will participate in other community events as well, but our Day of of Service is something that from the top down is incredibly important to everyone taking part."

Also on Friday was the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam. The NBA had worked previously with area school districts to do an incentive program for students around health and wellness, meaning they needed to complete certain fitness, nutrition and community service requirements to qualify. And more than 4,200 children did, so they were rewarded by getting to sit in the lower bowl of the American Airlines Center, down by the floor, and players actually sat with them, too. Jacobson added, "The idea is to celebrate their efforts and show them that this is an important thing they accomplished and that they're the real leaders."

On Saturday, at the Dallas Convention Center, NBA Cares hosted interactive basketball festivals called Jam Sessions. That included a Special Olympics Clinic, where 70 local Special Olympics athletes attended a basketball clinic, and the NBA D-League All-Star Youth Clinic, where the NBA's Development League players hosted a basketball clinic for area boys and girls.

And, of course, today is the All-Star Game, where the league will host children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation whose dream it was to attend the game. The kids and their families got in on Friday and are given an unforgettable experience throughout the weekend, including meeting NBA players and legends. In addition, during the game, the league will air a PSA with former Presidents Bush and Clinton, encouraging people to stay involved with Haiti relief efforts. The league has been involved since the day the earthquake struck and has raised more than $3 million.

As Jacobson pointed out, the NBA wants to make sure the spirit of volunteering continues. "Our goal is to encourage people to volunteer — not only during the weekend but long after the NBA leaves — and to help these organizations capitalize on the opportunity to get more people involved."

With the number of communities that the NBA Cares program touched during All-Star weekend, it seems certain that spirit of volunteering will spread throughout North Texas. And it will also continue at future All-Star games and wherever else the league gets involved. "It's part of our DNA, it's who we are, and that is incredibly important to us as an organization and we will continue to stress that as we move forward as a league."

Photo credits: Chris Bosh at Burnet Elementary School by Andrew Bernstein/NBAE; Laura Bush, Jason Terry and Dikembe Mutombo at Farrell Elementary School by NBAE; Avery Johnson at the T. Boone Pickens YMCA by Glenn James/NBAE; and Deron Williams painting interior of Dallas home by Bill Baptist/ NBAE.