With the holiday spirit in mind, the Los Angeles Lakers kicked off their first event of their annual ‘Season Of Giving,’ serving up a Thanksgiving feast to 500 guests from L.A. community organizations with the helping hands of Brandon Ingram, Thomas Robinson and the Laker girls. Ingram remembers when he was a kid, professional athletes doing similar things in his community.
“When you have the opportunity to give back and you make the amount that you make, you always look back and see where you were as a a kid and just try to help out,” Ingram said. “Always in my hometown, we had a few professional athletes and they always gave back to my community, so it was always fun to see that and gave me inspiration to just try to do the same thing to give back.”
After being in the league for a few years, Robinson knows the powerful impact professional athletes can have on kids in their communities.
“These types of things stick with kids forever,” Robinson smiled. “You never know just these little interactions could change a kids whole life and inspire them to do something big.”
This event took place at the L.A. Fire Department’s Hotchkin Memorial Training Center in Elysian Park, a memorial to one of their fire fighters.
“This is our main training center for the entire Los Angeles fire department,” assistant chief Steve Hissong explained. “This building itself is a memorial to one of our fire fighters, so to have an event like this with the Los Angeles Lakers and be able to serve all the kids from boys and girls clubs and the community itself, what a true honor that we can be a partner together.”
The generous meal was provided by Lucille’s Smokehouse Bar-B-Que, a longtime partner for events like these. Since 2000, the Lakers have used “A Season of Giving,” presented by East West Bank, to assist thousands of children and adults. This year’s events include the Thanksgiving Feast, a Thanksgiving turkey giveaway, and a holiday party for kids which will include a Winter Wonderland with sledding in a park.