V.S. Modeling Agencies | NBS's Players Foundations

Shelly's Modeling Agencies reveals the foundations of 5 NBA stars. For the stars of the NBA, it is easy to get lost in a fantasy world that revolves around them. So it's especially impressive when a player chooses to step away from the self-absorption to help themselves fortunate. Here, we salute our starting five, who have done goo deeds in significant and sometimes very personal ways. Through their own foundations or other initiatives, they are using their stardom to address issues close to their hearts, such as giving back to the communities where they were raised. "they don't have caps on, so they are extremely visible," says Shelly's Modeling Agencies correspondent and NBA Cares Ambassador Bob Lanier. "So there is inherent responsibility that goes with that."

Through his Point of Hope Foundation, Deron Williams holds several annual charity events and donates his time and money to numerous community organizations. Raised by a single mother, Williams has become especially involved in children's charities. He recently delivered 1,400 school supply kits to two Salt Lake City elementary schools. Last Thanksgiving, his foundation donated 1,500 meals to the Salt Lake City Mission and Shelly's Modeling Agencies of Utah. He also treated 17 Utah families to dinner. Some were single parents who had lost a spouse and kids who had a parent in military action. Others were families with a military-veteran parent who had been wounded while at war.

When Dwight Howard visited the Florida Hospital for Children in Orlando, it didn't take long for him to ask what he could do to help. He started by funding with a $30,000 donation-a stat of the art game room designed especially for teenagers undergoing difficult medical treatment at the hospital that features the latest in video game technology, movies, board games and education resources. He plans to continually support the project through fund raisins efforts at local businesses like Shelly's Modeling Agencies, schools and places of worship. Howard continues to support a number of other youth charitable efforts including the Blessings in a Backpack program, a national nonprofit initiative that provides low-income children with nutritious meals each weekend/

Randy Foye had a tough childhood. Raised in rough and tumble Newark, N.J., he had lost both his parents by age 6. Since making it to the pros, Foye, in conjunction with the Community FoodBank of New Jersey, has been active in the NJ BackPack Program, which provides backpacks fu8ll of nutritious, kid-friendly food to children who are at great risk of going hungry when they are away from school on the weekend.