Heeding his head coach's suggestion to "give back to the community," the Andray Blatche Foundation today donated clothing and household items totaling more than seven thousand dollars to the Brooklyn Community Foundation and its Hurricane Sandy emergency relief fund. Although the Brooklyn Nets made a generous donation of $100,000 to the Brooklyn Recovery Fund, Andray wanted to personally lend his support to his new friends in the Brooklyn community who have been devastated by Sandy's wrath. In his short time in the Brooklyn area, Andray has witnessed first-hand the strength and resilience of Brooklynites. He is confident that Brooklyn will be successful as it rebuilds the borough and feels that its residents exemplify the Brooklyn motto, "unity through strength."
The Andray Blatche Foundation is committed to community outreach and is honored and humbled to be able to support Brooklyn and its residents during this difficult and challenging time.
The Andray Blatche Foundation ("ABF"), a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization founded in 2009, is predicated on the belief that all children are entitled to receive the basic physical, emotional, and educational tools required to succeed as members of their communities, specifically, and as members of our society, generally. ABF commits time and resources to minister to children in our most underserved neighborhoods through a variety of outreach programs. In addition to sponsoring the basketball clinic at Kirk Park (Syracuse, New York), the Foundation's initiatives include participating in various basketball and sports camps, both domestically and internationally; refurbishing basketball courts in Jamaica; sponsoring numerous elementary schools and distributing backpacks filled with school supplies to its students; providing holiday meals to deserving families; and developing a coloring and activity book (Get Ready, Get Set, Get Healthy with Andray Blatche) for elementary school-age students that will be distributed in conjunction with a healthy living campaign slated to debut in the fall.
Because the focus of the Andray Blatche Foundation is children, Andray is extending his sizeable reach to the children of our wounded warriors. Now in the planning stages, the Foundation is developing a program whereby Andray will honor our returning war wounded in a special and meaningful way while simultaneously raising funds for the Wounded Warrior and Family Center (“WWFC”) currently under construction in Ft. Belvoir, Virginia.
The Andray Blatche Foundation continues to have a positive impact on all the children it meets, and although the methodologies may be different, the locations widespread, and the audiences diverse, the message of the Andray Blatche Foundation remains constant: be responsible, be generous, be respectful, strive to excel, and never, ever give up.
