When Hurricane Florence hit North Carolina and ravaged it, Michael Jordan came out of his slumber to help his home state. The Bulls icon traveled to Wilmington on Thanksgiving Day in 2018 not only to spend time with his family but also for a philanthropic effort.
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The six-time NBA champion donated meals to victims of the devastating hurricane. He personally handed them out outside a Lowe’s retail store before spending time with kids in the Community Boys and Girls Club. When asked why he traveled to Wilmington and helped the community, the Hall of Famer spoke about the sense of responsibility he felt towards his hometown. He said,
“I’m from here. This is where I learned how to play the game of basketball here, but I mean, being able to, in the position I am, be able to come back and give back, you know, and help some of the people deal with the struggles that they have to deal with, and just to try to ignite everybody else’s support, you know, obviously this is where I came from, and I want to initiate it, but then I think other people will follow.”
While seeing Jordan in person was an incredible experience for the kids, little did they know that he wasn’t there only to chat. He surprised them and gave away several pairs of Jordans. The six-time Finals MVP knew the best thing he could do to make them happy was to gift them a pair of his shoes. He spoke about how ecstatic he was that his brand had a profound effect on people, saying,
“I’m very proud and very happy that we’ve evolved to where kids want something with my emblem on it, my name on it, and to me, if I can use this to inspire them just by giving them this start, great. If it helps them educationally, if it helps them from a motivational standpoint, obviously it’s Thanksgiving. I’m happy to see these kids smile because they probably haven’t had the chance to smile in a long time.”
As incredible as the gesture was, his effort to help his community wasn’t limited to handing out meals and shoes.
Jordan’s massive donation to help North Carolina recover
Jordan not only provided aid personally but also broke out his checkbook and gave $1 million each to the American Red Cross and The Foundation For the Carolinas’ Hurricane Florence Response Fund to help his community.
Those weren’t his only contributions to help Wilmington. He donated $17 million to Novant Health to open and operate health clinics in the city. The company named them the Novant Health Michael Jordan Family Medical Clinic, as an ode to the Bulls icon.
Jordan never claims credit for his philanthropic efforts. Instead, he does his part before disappearing back out of the spotlight.
