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Victor Oladipo, Magic Join Outback Steakhouse to Fight Hunger in Local Youth

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John DentonSept. 1, 2015

ORLANDO – Orlando Magic standout guard Victor Oladipo believes so strongly in well-being of the children in Central Florida that he was willing to give the shoes off his feet on Tuesday.

On hand at Rosemont Elementary School to support the Magic’s ``Hoops for Hunger’’ program, Oladipo was approached by a young student who asked for his autograph. Oladipo surprised the little girl by taking a black and blue trimmed shoe – one with VO 5 sewn onto the tongue – off his foot and autographed it for the child. Later, he did the same thing for a Rosemont Elementary teacher, forcing the second-year NBA player to send someone to his vehicle for a backup pair of navy blue slides.

``I just want to show the kids that I’m just like them,’’ Oladipo said. ``Yeah, I play in the NBA and I’m blessed with God-given abilities, but at the end of the day I was once their age, I had a dream to play in the NBA and I had to work hard for my dream to come true. I just came here to interact with the kids to show them that their dreams can come true too if they work hard.’’

Oladipo teamed up with the Magic, Outback Steakhouse and the Christian Service Center to stock the Love Pantry at Rosemont Elementary with emergency food items and basic hygiene products for families in need. Oladipo, Magic Community Ambassadors Nick Anderson and Bo Outlaw, Fox Sports Florida analyst Jeff Turner, Christian Service Center Executive Director Robert Stuart and Outback Steakhouse Sanford Proprietor Amy Briscoe loaded the Love Pantry with supplies and passed out grocery items to students.

The Love Pantry is an initiative of the Christian Service Center in partnership with Orange County and Seminole County Public Schools. Since the program’s inception in 2011, more than 8,000 family members across 63 different Love Pantries in Orange and Seminole County schools have been provided food, hygiene items and community resource information. Each participating school is provided with a lockable cabinet supplied with emergency food and basic hygiene items which is replenished on a weekly basis by volunteers. When a student or family is in need, the school’s staff member can go to the cabinet to provide enough food for one or several family meals.

Rosemont’s Love Pantry was packed with cereal, mac and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, beefy mac and mixed veggies and fruit nonperishable items. Making sure that children are properly fed is one of the first steps in setting them up for success in school.

``The Love Pantry started in 2011 and our goal was to remove hunger as a barrier for learning,’’ Stuart said. ``Since then, we’ve been in more than 70 schools and we’ve served more than 390,000 meals. Just last year, we served more than 120,000 meals, we served 16,000 people and 10,000 of them were children. So we want to make food available for children to take home and provide those valuable resources so that these kids can help be a part of great communities. When we build them up, we build up our communities up. That’s what we’re doing here.’’

The Magic also have been working to build up the community in hopes of making Central Florida a better place to live. As part of the Magic’s initiative to fight hunger, the organization participates in several events throughout the year such as a full-staff service project with UnitedHealthCare to assemble 12,000 food packs for the ``Hi-Five Kids Pack’’ program and the ``Blessings in a Backpack’’ program at Nap Ford Community School. Also, for the past 22 years in a row Magic staffers serve Thanksgiving breakfast to residents of the Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida.

``I love the fact that the Magic are champions off the court,’’ Stuart said. ``This is a chance to say that we want to be champions for children. (Battling hunger) is a most primary need that we need and if we solve this we make our community a better place as a whole.’’

Oladipo, who recently returned to Orlando following a week in Las Vegas for USA Basketball’s mini-camp and exhibition game, is in the process of preparing for his third professional season with the Magic. Oladipo feels that the Magic have the talent and maturity in place to make major strides this season. He said many of the Magic’s players are already back in Orlando and working out together in preparation for the opening of training camp on Sept. 26.

``I’m looking forward to (the season) because we have a lot of young talent,’’ said Oladipo, who averaged a career-best 17.9 points per game last season for Orlando. ``I feel like we have a lot of the pieces to be successful.

``We’ve been together for awhile, for a couple of years now and we’re tired of using the `we’re too young’ excuse,’’ Oladipo continued. ``It’s just time to win.’’

On Tuesday it was time for Oladipo to address those children who look up to him because of his star play with the Magic and his high-flying exploits in the NBA Dunk Contest last February. Oladipo was the co-winner of the Rich and Helen DeVos Community Enrichment award last season along with teammate Tobias Harris for their work in the Central Florida community. Oladipo takes serious his responsibility as a role model, and he wants to do whatever he can to be a positive influence on the lives of children throughout Central Florida.

``It’s amazing to see the smile on their faces,’’ Oladipo said. ``I was blessed by God to have the opportunity to change lives. To be able to come out here and change a kid’s life, that means the world to me. I’m glad I was able to come out here to Rosemont Elementary to change some kids lives and I plan on continuing to do that throughout the year and my career.’