Charlottesville, VA — The Chris Long Foundation announced the tipoff of the second season of Hoops2o, a program that unites NBA players and fans in the mission of bringing clean water to East African communities in need. Made up of a roster of eight players from across the league, the team of NBA playmakers has grown from the founding five members to include Donte DiVincenzo of the Milwaukee Bucks, Kyle Guy of the Sacramento Kings and Tim Frazier of the Detroit Pistons. Fueled by added star power and building on the goal-breaking success of season one, the Hoops2o team is aiming to double their impact in season two by raising a half-million dollars and providing water to 75,000 East Africans in need.
"We started Hoops2o last year intending to raise a quarter of a million dollars to help alleviate the world water crisis," said Pacers guard Malcolm Brogdon, founder of Hoops2o. "We exceeded that number and transformed five communities with the life-saving gift of clean water. But we know there are still 844 million people that lack access to basic drinking water in the world, which means our vision and our impact has to be bigger."
That bigger impact comes in the form of doubling the financial goal for Hoops2o season 2 to $500,000, and increasing the number of people served to 75,000. To accomplish that, Brogdon and his fellow "Starting 5" teammates know that they must double the number of fans that join the effort, which is why they are kicking off the 2019-20 NBA season by rallying support from fans across the league with the "Ballin' for Buckets" #Hoops2oDoubleDouble contest.
Fans can participate and join the Hoops2o team by submitting an email address at waterboys.org/season2 before October 23. One lucky new team member will be thanked with an exclusive New York experience on October 30, which includes flights to the city, tickets to the Brooklyn Nets vs. Indiana Pacers game, and a meet and greet with Brooklyn Nets stars Joe Harris and Garrett
Temple.
Hoops2o is a program of the successful Waterboys initiative, started by 2018 NFL Walter Payton Man of the Year Chris Long, which has brought the gift of clean water to over 300,000 people in East Africa.
Together with the NFL Waterboys program, Hoops2o uses a collective impact model to unite as many
people as possible in the same goal: bringing clean water to one million people. Brogdon leads a team of NBA playmakers in helping to expand the Waterboys mission and is joined by his original Starting 5 this year — Joe Harris and Garrett Temple of the Brooklyn Nets, Anthony Tolliver of the Portland Trailblazers, and Justin Anderson of the Washington Wizards — in addition to new members, Donte DiVincenzo, Kyle Guy and Tim Frazier.
The expansion of Hoops2o this season comes in addition to growth of the NFL Waterboys program, which is led by Cleveland Browns star Myles Garrett. The NFL roster now includes Beau Allen of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Brett Hundley of the Arizona Cardinals, and Ben Garland of the San Francisco 49ers as well. These new additions join previous NFL Waterboys Taylor Lewan, Tennessee Titans; Kyle Long Chicago Bears; Zack Martin, Dallas Cowboys and Johnny Hekker, Los Angeles Rams.
"It was inspiring and humbling to see how many people got involved in our mission last year," continued Brogdon. "Fans from around the world gave towards Hoops2o. I cannot wait to see what this team of athletes and fans accomplishes this season and the number of lives we touch."
To learn more about Hoops2o and the Waterboys mission, visit www.waterboys.org.