While much of the focus and attention on LeBron James has centered around his signing a four-year contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, Monday is a monumental day on a personal level.
The LeBron James Family Foundation is opening an I Promise School in Akron, Ohio, providing a tremendous opportunity for more than 200 at-risk students. It opens with third and fourth graders enrolling, but plans are for the school to have first through eighth grade students.
Monday’s grand opening was expected to be the time James would make his first public remarks since signing with the Lakers. However, he did so through a video on Sunday that was released through his Uninterrupted network.
In that clip, James also touched on his emotions behind opening the public school and the sense of responsibility he feels to provide for the community:
“I know these kids basically more than they know themselves. I’ve walked the same streets, I’ve rode the same bikes on the streets that they ride on. I went through the same emotions, the good, the bad, the adversity. Everything these kids are going through, the drugs, the violence, the guns. Everything they are going through as kids, I know. For me to be in the position where I have the resources, have the finance, the structure, I have the city around me, then why not? Why not continue to do great things and help the youth?”
James hopes that in opening this school it will not only help countless children but also possibly help who he describes as, “the future Barack Obama, Michelle Obama, Sean Diddy Combs, Jay Z, maybe even the next LeBron James.”
While James takes pride in his charitable endeavors and his business interests, he also made it very clear that he is excited to come play for the Lakers “historic franchise” and get the team back to their wining ways.
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