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This former pro baller isn't building better players. He's building better citizens.

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State Farm

When he was just 14 years old, Felipe Lopez was dubbed the "Spanish Michael Jordan."

He had just immigrated with his family from the Dominican Republic to the South Bronx, and, without missing a beat, had started making a name for himself in New York City — the mecca of basketball.

Lopez starred at Rice High School in Harlem and played college ball at St. John's University. Then, in 1998, he finally made it to the NBA. But it's not just his skills on the hardwood that make him so special.


All images via Felipe Lopez, used with permission.

"When I was in college, I already had the urge to give back to the community," he says. "But there was the financial uncertainties as you go through college."

So in his first year in the NBA, Lopez took action to make an impact both on and off the court.

Immediately, he laid the groundwork for the Felipe Lopez Foundation, a program geared toward providing underprivileged kids with athletic and academic opportunities.

"Once I made it to the league," Lopez explains, "every time I went to the Dominican Republic for vacation, it was not a vacation — it was to travel around the country and give free [basketball] clinics and give out free donations to all the places that I went to."

Lopez even petitioned the president of the Dominican Republic to create a new gym on the site of the playground where he first fell in love with basketball.

"The best way to make ourselves feel good is by giving — giving your time, giving your effort, giving your love to people that need to find their way," he says.

Not even a serious knee injury, which derailed his career in 2002, could slow down his humanitarian work. Lopez kept coming back to the Dominican Republic despite leaving the NBA and playing in leagues across Europe and South America.

In 2014, Lopez returned to New York to give back to the community that gave him so much. He started working with kids at the Bronx Spanish Evangelical Church to support efforts to take them off the street and give them a safe haven from the rampant drug abuse and gang scene in the neighborhood.

It's here that Lopez started getting more recognition for all the amazing community work he was doing. In fact, his inspirational story and heartwarming relationship with one of the campers was recently featured in a profile for State Farm's Neighborhood of Good.

With all the kids he helps, Lopez tries to offer guidance for their future.

"I'm not trying to build the next superstar," he explains. "I'm trying to build the next best citizen that is going to go all around and take all the opportunities that's going to be given to them."

That's why he's trying so hard to set kids on the right path towards college — to him, it's the key to unlocking a world of possibilities.

And to help them get there, he stresses one thing: preparation. "When you talk about preparation," Lopez says, "you talk about readiness, you talk about being on time, you talk about doing your homework." These are the things, he says, that help them not lose sight of their goals.

Lopez also shares his faith with the kids to give them another source of guidance. In fact, that's a big reason why he renamed the Felipe Lopez Foundation to the Ministry of Faith this past year.

Today, almost 20 years since he first launched his foundation, Lopez has only found more ways to give back — earning him a new nickname: "Saint Felipe."

Fellow NBA Cares Ambassador Dikembe Mutombo gave him this new nickname after Lopez became an NBA Cares ambassador in 2008.

"Felipe is special among former players," NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said. "He's magical. Kids respond to him, his manner, his smile. He has almost a special skip in his step."

Today, Lopez also serves as a mentor for My Brother's Keeper, a project started by President Obama. "It's a mentoring program," explains Lopez, "and the point was to raise 25,000 mentors to guide young black men across America."

Without a doubt, paying it forward is at the heart of everything Lopez does.

That's because he knows that at one time, he too needed encouragement and guidance to keep him on the right path and get to where he is today. Now, he wants to do the same for the next generation. Because whether it's trying to pass an exam or make it to the NBA, everyone could use a helping hand or a mentor.

"I see myself as that person that lent me their hand when I needed it," he says. And if all goes according to plan, that's exactly what the kids he helps will say once they reach their goals.

To learn more about his incredible story and how Lopez is reaching his hand out to help kids, just check out this heartwarming video below:

If you're looking for easy ways to take action in your community, get started by visiting the Neighborhood of Good. State Farm will help you connect locally with people and organizations in need of a good neighbor.

Planet

Easy (and free!) ways to save the ocean

The ocean is the heart of our planet. It needs our help to be healthy.

Ocean Wise

Volunteers at a local shoreline cleanup

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The ocean covers over 71% of the Earth’s surface and serves as our planet’s heart. Ocean currents circulate vital heat, moisture, and nutrients around the globe to influence and regulate our climate, similar to the human circulatory system. Cool, right?

Our ocean systems provide us with everything from fresh oxygen to fresh food. We need it to survive and thrive—and when the ocean struggles to function healthfully, the whole world is affected.

Pollution, overfishing, and climate change are the three biggest challenges preventing the ocean from doing its job, and it needs our help now more than ever. Humans created the problem; now humans are responsible for solving it.

#BeOceanWise is a global rallying cry to do what you can for the ocean, because we need the ocean and the ocean needs us. If you’re wondering how—or if—you can make a difference, the answer is a resounding YES. There are a myriad of ways you can help, even if you don’t live near a body of water. For example, you can focus on reducing the amount of plastic you purchase for yourself or your family.

Another easy way to help clean up our oceans is to be aware of what’s known as the “dirty dozen.” Every year, scientists release an updated list of the most-found litter scattered along shorelines. The biggest culprit? Single-use beverage and food items such as foam cups, straws, bottle caps, and cigarette butts. If you can’t cut single-use plastic out of your life completely, we understand. Just make sure to correctly recycle plastic when you are finished using it. A staggering 3 million tons of plastic ends up in our oceans annually. Imagine the difference we could make if everyone recycled!

The 2022 "Dirty Dozen" ListOcean Wise

If you live near a shoreline, help clean it up! Organize or join an effort to take action and make a positive impact in your community alongside your friends, family, or colleagues. You can also tag @oceanwise on social if you spot a beach that needs some love. The location will be added to Ocean Wise’s system so you can submit data on the litter found during future Shoreline Cleanups. This data helps Ocean Wise work with businesses and governments to stop plastic pollution at its source. In Canada, Ocean Wise data helped inform a federal ban on unnecessary single-use plastics. Small but important actions like these greatly help reduce the litter that ends up in our ocean.

Ocean Wise, a conservation organization on a mission to restore and protect our oceans, is focused on empowering and educating everyone from individuals to governments on how to protect our waters. They are making conservation happen through five big initiatives: monitoring and protecting whales, fighting climate change and restoring biodiversity, innovating for a plastic-free ocean, protecting and restoring fish stocks, and finally, educating and empowering youth. The non-profit believes that in order to rebuild a resilient and vibrant ocean within the next ten years, everyone needs to take action.

Become an Ocean Wise ally and share your knowledge with others. The more people who know how badly the ocean needs our help, the better! Now is a great time to commit to being a part of something bigger and get our oceans healthy again.

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