MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A three time winner of the NBA’s Sportmanship award, former Grizzlies great and current Utah Jazz Mike Conley, continued his giving ways Wednesday.
Conley donated $200,000 split among five communities near and dear to his heart: Indianapolis; Columbus; Ohio; West Helena, Arkansas; Salt Lake City and, of course, Memphis.
He’s helping those hit hardest by this pandemic — students, those struggling to feed their families, those facing homelessness.
“It’s vital that we who have a platform, like we do and a stage like we do, to utilize it the best that we can,” Conley said. “Who knows how long I’ll get where my voice can mean something. While it does, just try to use it as much as I can. Use my time and money and resources to help those.”
Conley’s donation in Memphis will go to Code Crew, a non-profit organization that provides low cost WiFi equipment and laptops to students to help with distance learning.
“Right now, everybody, all the kids that are in school and classes who are missing opportunities to be in classrooms and having to do their work from home, do it via Zoom or Skype or whatever it may be. Not everybody has the same resources,” said Conley. “Not everybody has WiFi fast enough. Not everybody has the capabilities to do a lot of these things. I know that’s a real issue. I want them to still be able to achieve their goals without having that crutch.”
