Pro basketball players, US army feed needy children

WASHINGTON 

Members of the U.S. military and players for the Washington Wizards basketball team helped feed 2,000 needy children on Friday.

 The group was joined by student volunteers to pack bags for the Capital Area Food Bank’s Weekend Bag Program. 

The program ensures that the children have food over the weekend when they don’t have access to school meals.

The project was one of the first events of the military's "Commitment to Service" initiative with the professional National Basketball Association, which is focused on building a culture of service by meeting the needs of local communities.

Washington Wizards head coach Randy Wittman, players Dejuan Blair, Bradley Beal, Marcin Gortat, Kris Humphries, Glen Rice, Garrett Temple and Martell Webster worked with Wizard Girls.

"It's about bringing Americans together in a way that will both serve our military and serve our community," Rene C. Bardorf, deputy assistant secretary of Defense for Community and Public outreach told reporters. 

Along with the "Commitment to Service" initiative,  the U.S. Department of Defense also collaborates with the basketball league in several other social projects, including the "NBA Cares" program, as well as USA Basketball's "Hoops for Troops" for providing ways to assist service members.

"The basketball league has been wonderful to us over the last 13 years as we've gone through these wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and now ... we feel like the relationship has evolved to one where we'll go out together and partner with one another to serve our communities and empower those in the community to serve with us," Bardorf said.

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