Sacramento Kings guard Cory Joseph and his family are funding thousands of food donations to help feed school children in need as a result of the COVID-19 crisis across his home country of Canada. Joseph is facilitating the donations through Isthmus, one of the only programs in Canada to provide students with reliable access to food that bridges the food security gap they experience over the weekends.
“With the platform I have, I feel it is my responsibility to help those in need, especially the children back home that are most vulnerable to the conditions of poverty,” said Joseph. “Growing up in the Toronto area I saw those realities, so I hold a special place in my heart for this next generation. I am very humbled to support these kids with greater food security through Isthmus during this pandemic so they can live healthy lives and go on to achieve their dreams.”
Students served through Isthmus typically receive nutritious groceries every Friday on campus to help them and their families prepare healthy meals to sustain until Monday. However, school closures nationwide due to the coronavirus pandemic have limited much-needed access to those donations. Joseph’s assistance will give children vital food security not only over the weekends, but through June to cover their needs for the remainder of the school year during these uncertain times.
For nearly three years, Joseph has served as an ambassador with Isthmus to connect children living in provinces from coast-to-coast in Canada with food while raising awareness for childhood hunger, a cause that has become a major personal focus.
This donation builds on Joseph’s prior commitments to give back to both Sacramento and Canada, and is part of the team’s “In This Together” initiative to provide support during the COVID-19 pandemic. In April, Joseph joined his teammates Harrison Barnes, Bogdan Bogdanovic, De’Aaron Fox and Richaun Holmes in donating meals to vulnerable families and children throughout the Sacramento area. Joseph and his family also donated face shields through Operation Canadian Shield to help protect thousands of frontline workers in hospitals that provide care for COVID-19 patients in his native city of Toronto, Ontario. Additionally during April, the Kings announced that the team’s former arena in Natomas will serve as a surge field hospital to support the growing medical needs of the COVID-19 crisis across California. The team made a donation from the Sacramento Kings Foundation to area community organizations providing food services and relief and 100,000 medical-grade masks to state and local hospitals and healthcare institutions with a shortage of supplies. In March, the Kings joined forces with Legends Hospitality to donate nearly 5,000 pounds of prepared and perishable food to the Sacramento Food Bank and the Sacramento County Office of Education to help feed individuals in need and families impacted by school closures.
To learn more about “In This Together” and the team’s efforts to give back, visit Kings.com/Together.