ORLANDO – The final two years, as a result of of the pandemic, the Orlando Magic and Pepsi Stronger Together needed to modify their annual vacation occasion for Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida youth.
While nonetheless extremely impactful, as they delivered items to the children at close by Boys & Girls Clubs, it was unlucky that the conventional exercise of Magic gamers and different volunteers taking the kids on a purchasing spree couldn’t occur.
With issues again to relative normality today, the Magic and Pepsi Stronger Together had been ecstatic to renew frequently scheduled programming this vacation season.
On Tuesday, Dec. 6, with Magic gamers Paolo Banchero, Caleb Houstan, Terrence Ross and Chuma Okeke together with Community Ambassadors Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw there to chaperone, 100 Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida youngsters from three completely different branches had been taken on a vacation purchasing spree at a native Walmart. Each youngster acquired $100 Walmart reward playing cards courtesy of Pepsi Stronger Together previous to going purchasing.
“It’s fun for everybody,” Ross stated. “When they (the kids) see the Magic guys show up, it’s always a good time. They are always having fun, asking a whole bunch of questions. Any time you can do that, it’s always fun.”
Although clearly new to Orlando, Banchero has already developed a sturdy connection to this group. Not solely does he have large targets on the court docket, the 20-year-old is happy about all of the off-the-court alternatives that await him as he continues on along with his journey with the group that drafted him first general this previous summer season.
“I’m trying to follow the footsteps of guys like Markelle (Fultz) doing his thing with the Fultzgiving and things like that,” he stated. “I try and do stuff around the community back in Seattle and I’m trying to do the same in Orlando.”
Last 12 months, Okeke made a shock look on the native Boys & Girls Club the place the vacation items had been delivered. While that was an superior expertise, socializing with the children and serving to them pick vacation items this time round made it that a lot sweeter.
“It’s cool that we could make somebody else’s day – whether it’s them shopping for themselves or shopping for their parents or whatever the case may be,” he stated. “And them doing it with people who they look up to in a way. It’s always good to make somebody’s day.”
Events like Tuesday’s wouldn’t be doable if organizations such because the Magic and PepsiCo didn’t share the identical core values. Giving again to the group ranks excessive on each their lists, which is why they’ve been capable of put smiles on so many youngsters’s faces through the years by their philanthropic efforts.
“I think it’s so important. That’s why we’ve been partners for so long,” PepsiCo Orlando GM-Sr. Director Johnny Romero stated. “The city of Orlando, although it’s a big city, it’s a small community. So, the Orlando Magic and Pepsi from the very beginning have just shared the same values, and that’s why we’ve been partners for so long. (It’s) absolutely wonderful. For the players to come out like this and take their time – phenomenal. Just goes to show the values resonate all the way down to the players themselves. We are just so thankful.”
The mission on the Boys & Girls Clubs of Central Florida is to encourage and allow all younger folks, particularly these from deprived circumstances, to understand their full potential as productive, accountable, and caring residents.
There are presently 36 golf equipment throughout six Central Florida counties, every situated in neighborhoods that, on common, rank on the 12th percentile for family earnings and the 71st percentile for incarceration charges.
Nearly 7,000 children are presently being served, whereas the family earnings for roughly 73 % of the kids’s households is lower than $40,000 and 92 % of the children qualify for free or decreased lunch at college.