GOOD WORKS TEAMCalipari, Wildcats Focused on Community Outreach

Doron Lamb never saw it coming.

Before the University of Kentucky men’s basketball player could sit

down, a swarm of Picadome Elementary fourth-graders engulfed the

6-foot-4, 210-pound freshman.

“He just disappeared,” UK media relations assistant director John

Hayden recalled.

It was Sept. 16 when the UK athletics department sent out its army of

student-athletes to various schools in Fayette County in support of the

university’s partnership with God’s Pantry Food Bank.

The BackPack program, in which Lamb was participating, is designed to meet the needsof hungry children at times when other resources are not available, such as weekends andschool vacations.

The Wildcat men’s basketball squad was one of many teams to help fill backpacks with non-perishable nutritious items and hand them to students.

“It always cracks me up when these guys interact with children,” Hayden said. “It’s always inter-esting to see who the bigger kid is.”

The project coincides with athletics director Mitch Barnhart’s plan of making charity work partof UK student-athletes’ curriculum. Besides God’s Pantry Food Bank, UK athletes have visited chil-dren at hospitals, built homes with Habitat for Humanity and compiled nearly 2,400 hours ofcommunity service in 2009-10.

Leading the way is John Calipari and his nationally renowned men’s basketball team.

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By Todd Krise, IMG College

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“I think we literally have hundreds of student-athletes that give to thecommunity every day,” Barnhart said, “but because they are not ourmen’s basketball team, they don’t get the recognition.

“I am thrilled that our men’s basketball team — under the spotlight thatthey have to attain — are able to do the things that they do.”

HOOPS FOR HAITIThe Hoops for Haiti telethon, which took place Jan. 26 on WKYT

Channel 27, likely is the largest and most profound charity event Calipari andhis team has hatched during the coach’s 18 months in Lexington.

Fourteen days prior, a catastrophic earthquake shook west of Haiti’s capital,Port-au-Prince, and killed an estimated 230,000 people.

Apparently the quake rattled the whole way to Calipari’s heart because the51-year-old woke up one morning with the itch to help.

“At 8:30 a.m., I got a call from Cal and he said, ‘We need to do a telethon,’ ”WKYT general manager Wayne Martin remembered. “I said, ‘That’s ironic. Wehad been in a discussion with the United Way the previous day about what wemight do.’ ”

Calipari quickly went to work. He began calling everyone from Barnhartto Kentucky governor Steve Beshear to Syracuse men’s basketball coach andfriend Jim Boeheim.

Everyone, as expected, wanted to help.“We did it in about 48 hours,” Calipari said via e-mail. “It was incredible.”Calipari emceed the four-and-a-half hour event, while his players answered

phone calls from celebrities to “Bill down the street” who called to contribute money,said Winn Stephens, the director of development for the Bluegrass Area Red Cross.

Hoops for Haiti raised more than $1.5 million, which is an abnormalamount considering Kentucky ranks 47th in the nation in per capita income.

JOSH HARRELLSON talks with a young girl in Detroit during a foot-washing event the Kentucky men’s bas-ketball team participated in with the Samaritan’s Feet organization. Players and coaches also gave the children new shoes.

“I didn’t put a number on what we should raise beforehand. You just do it to the best of your ability. You explain why it’s

important to help and you hope people will respond.”

— John Calipari, on the money raised for the Hoops for Haiti campaign

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That amount placed Lexington as the 16th largest contributor of any U.S. city,Stephens said.

“No doubt. Absolutely,” Calipari said when asked if the money raisedexceeded his expectations. “I didn’t put a number on what we should raisebeforehand. You just do it to the best of your ability. You explain why it’simportant to help and you hope people will respond.”

Going another step, Calipari went on a June trip to Port-au-Prince to dis-cuss and view progress.

The 22-year coaching veteran traveled with Martin Newton, UK’s directorof basketball operations, Royce Pulliam, the CEO of Global Fitness Holdingsand owner of Urban Active Sports Clubs, and a crew from WKYT.

“It was a very powerful trip,” Calipari said.Stephens admitted it is difficult to tell precisely how the $1.5 million was

spent. However, he said he believes the money most likely was used during therecovery phase because of how fast Lexington raised the money.

“That involved food, water, shelter and camps with sanitary latrines,”Stephens said.

SAMARITAN’S FEETWhen Calipari was introduced to Manny Ohonme at the 2010 NCAA

Men’s Basketball Final Four in Indianapolis, the two immediately hit it off.Calipari was impressed with the organization Ohonme founded called

Samaritan’s Feet, which was created in 2003 to help put shoes on the feet ofchildren all around the world. To date, Samaritan’s Feet has handed out nearlythree million pairs of shoes in 53 countries.

Like the earthquake in Haiti, that got Calipari thinking: How could the UKmen’s basketball team contribute to Samaritan’s Feet?

While the Cats were in Canada for an exhibition showcase from Aug. 15-17, theymade a pit stop in Detroit to spend four hours at a local YMCA. There, Calipari, hisstaff and players washed the feet of students and handed out new shoes.

“That was definitely a humbling event,” junior guard Darius Miller said. “Ifyou had just seen how the kids reacted and how much it meant to them, it madeour day and I’m pretty sure it helped them out, too.”

The UK men’s basketball team is not the only notable athletics squad to par-ticipate. The NBA’s Detroit Pistons, Memphis Grizzlies, Philadelphia 76ers andBoston Celtics all have taken part at one point.

“It’s a memorable experience for both,” said Todd Melloh, marketing direc-tor for Samaritan’s Feet, “because when you think about it, for a lot of thesekids, these are their heroes that they watch on TV. I think it shocked the kidsto see their heroes doing that.

“It breaks down a lot of economic barriers. It’s a remarkable transformationof someone’s spirit to do that.”

CALIPARI ’S MOTIVATIONCalipari said he learned how to make a difference in people’s lives while an

assistant coach at Kansas and Pittsburgh before taking his first head coachingposition at UMass.

“I knew we had to embrace the community,” he said, “and there’s no betterway than doing it with each other.”

He brought that philosophy with him to Kentucky.“This seat I occupy, it’s temporary,” Calipari said. “You cheat the position if

you don’t use it do things like Hoops for Haiti.“You see what it means (to people),” he added. “I get to see just how much

we are the Commonwealth’s team.”

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“I think we literally have hundreds of student-athletes that

give to the community every day, but because they are not our

men’s basketball team, they don’t get the recognition. I am

thrilled that our men’s basketball team — under the spotlight

that they have to attain — are able to do the things that they

do.” — Mitch Barnhart

KENNY PAYNE hoists a young boy in the air for a shot in Detroit following an outreach event the team didduring their preseason trip to Canada in August.

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