Currys Combine Their Passions With New Charitable Foundation

The Curry family has done a lot of charity work in the past. With their new foundation, they are taking their philanthropy to another level.

Stephen Curry’s life and career have been defined by athletics. His father Dell’s NBA career shaped his childhood and introduced him to people and places that determined the roads he has taken and will continue to take. The opportunities afforded to him and the direction that his life has gone in have largely been determined by the fact that he is skilled at playing basketball. In addition to his career as a professional athlete, much of his work off the court involves sports as well. From his love of golf to his fitness work with kids, he is constantly intertwining recreation with other aspects of his life.

His wife has not structured her life around sports in the same way. However, much like her husband, Ayesha Curry has made a career out of one of her interests. Although she has never had culinary training, she has dedicated herself to becoming a professional chef and food authority. She has hosted food-based shows, written cookbooks and opened restaurants. She figured out a way to do what she loves to do and succeed at it.

Together, they form a power couple and are raising three kids together, daughters Riley and Ryan and son Canon. Their personal lives are frequently documented on social media and on television, including on the Facebook reality show Stephen vs. the Game, which chronicles Steph’s life as both a basketball player and a human being. Both Steph and Ayesha are shown to be dedicated parents who are raising their children to enjoy life as much as possible and to be the best human beings they can be.

All of this—Steph’s passions, Ayesha’s passions and their work together as parents—crosses over at the Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation, a charity that the two recently started.

The “Eat” section of the charity is drawn from Ayesha and her love of food. The foundation is committed to taking on child hunger throughout the United States, but particularly in the Bay Area, where the rates of kids affected by hunger are higher than the national average. By feeding children and their families, educating on the importance of eating healthy and advocating for changes in the ways that food is served in schools, Ayesha is hoping to use her passion to make legitimate change in the Bay and across the country.

The “Play” section, unsurprisingly, is where Steph comes in. The charity’s website explicitly states the importance of exercise for children while noting that most kids aren’t as physically active as they should be. Alongside his wife, Steph wants to change this. His donation to fund the Howard University golf program was one step in this direction. An exercise-based branch of his own charity is another. He wants to use this charity to teach kids the benefits of being active as well as create places where they can feel comfortable and safe being physically active. He plans to partner with a wide variety of organizations to make this happen, which contrasts with much of his previous work. In the past, when he would volunteer at outside events or advocate for outside organizations, there was only so much he could do. Now that he has his own foundation specifically for these topics, he can work for the sports-related causes he loves more directly and make an even greater positive change in society.

Finally, the “Learn” section is where the passions of husband and wife meet. Due to their lucrative career paths, Steph and Ayesha are fortunate enough to always be around for their children and to provide their kids with a strong education. At the same time, they are fully aware of how lucky they are and understand that not everyone has these privileges. They know that student achievement is often directly linked to income and they want to address and tackle this issue. They plan to do so by providing more resources to low-income students in the hopes of helping them earn diplomas and degrees and thus giving them more opportunities later in life.

All of this adds up to a charity in which Stephen and Ayesha Curry are trying to use the things they love for good and for the improvement of society. The Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation is still in the early stages of making an impact but it seems as though it is capable of doing great things for children throughout America.

From basketball to food to family, the Currys have a wide range of passions. But there’s something they focus on more than anything else: being good people and making the world a better place. With their new charity, they’re doing just that.