A lot of Caleb Swanigan's fans already knew about his struggles battling homelessness and obesity as a young man before going on to a successful career at Purdue, but after being selected by the Trail Blazers with the 26th overall pick during the 2017 NBA Draft, he's now in a position to bring more awareness and support to the issues he most cares about. That's exactly what Swanigan is doing in the latest edition of the Players' Tribune's "First Step" series, a video series hosted by former NBA player and currently G-League coach Jerry Stackhouse which aims to feature "athletes engaging the communities most affected by today’s social issues."
For his "First Step," Swanigan and Stackhouse visit Cherry Park Elementary with FoodCorps, an organization whose mission is to "serve to connect kids to healthy foods in school." After talking with the students about some of his favorite healthy foods -- Swanigan's favorite vegetable is apparently asparagus -- they head out to the school's garden to do some hands-on learning about proper nutrition.