Bobcats "Paint The Town"

The first stop was at the Children and Family Services Center, which includes 10 different child advocate agencies. There in the lobby with several of his teammates surrounding him, guard Brevin Knight expressed his appreciation to the staff members for their efforts.

“We want to thank you for all the work you did,” he said. “With your help, those people in need were able to get help.”

Then amid cheers, Knight called three individuals from Youth Homes, Tara Williamson, Karen Pelletier and Tony Rebol, to the front of the crowd to applaud them for traveling to New Orleans to help with the rebuilding efforts.

“It was overwhelming and a surprise,” remarked Pelletier. “I’m flattered that they would recognize us. I think it’s awesome that they came here. It really shows they want to be a part of the community. It means a lot for the people who work in the community that they want to come down and support us.”

After meeting with the staff, Knight, Kareem Rush, Matt Carroll and Melvin Ely spent time signing team pennants for the staff members. As the line snaked along, smiles could be seen on everyone’s faces.

“This is what we should be doing,” remarked Carroll after greeting the staff members. “It’s not necessarily that we are out here because we have to be. It’s something we want to do. Really, it’s the least we can do to come out here and show our faces and spend some time with the people who are making a big difference in other people’s lives.”

While the staff members enjoyed and appreciated the visit, it was something the players also benefited from.

“It’s always fun for me to come out and get involved in the community,” said Rush. “We live here and we’re in the spotlight here. It’s good for us to come out and show our support especially for a cause like this with these guys who helped out with the Katrina crisis.”

Following that visit, a group of Bobcats including Gerald Wallace, Primoz Brezec, Keith Bogans, Raymond Felton, Sean May, Kevin Burleson and Alan Anderson traveled to the Morrison Family YMCA at Ballantyne for an assembly with approximately 150 children.

Following a rousing ovation, Burleson, Felton and May addressed the kids in grades K-5 about the importance of working hard and believing in themselves.

“My dad always taught me to do your best in whatever you do, and I want to encourage everybody here to do that,” Burleson said. “One way to push yourself is to set goals. These goals might be getting a good grade on your assignments or beating somebody in basketball. The first thing you should do is think about what you need to do to reach your goals. From there you need to have a plan, work hard at it, and you’ll be able to do it. Just do your best, set goals and try hard.”

After the three rookies talked to the kids, the team held a question and answer session with the children. Among the questions were, “What's it like to win? How old are you? How'd you get to be 7-1 (for Brezec)? How's it feel to play in the NBA? What's the hardest team you've played?”

The Bobcats took the time to answer all of the kids’ questions candidly before each team member paired up with a child in a friendly game of knockout. In a surprising role reversal, all of the children teamed up with the Bobcats presented the players with Morrison Family YMCA hats the kids had autographed prior to the event.

“I've never had the tables turned on me like that before, but I enjoyed every moment of it,” Felton said. “It touches my heart just to be able to come out here and see everybody smile from ear to ear.”

The smile continued as Bobcats mascot Rufus Lynx made a surprise appearance for the kids before everyone in attendance had the chance to get autographs from all of the players.

“The players were really candid and friendly with the kids, and you could see that the kids just looked at them in awe,” Morrison Family YMCA Senior Marketing Director Michelle Miller said. “I think it was an overall win for everybody here and that the message of the importance of doing well in school and the value of teamwork came across very clear. We can’t thank them enough for coming out.”