Kyle Kuzma donates YMCA Safe Places Program passes at free basketball camp in Flint

Since entering the league in 2017, Kyle Kuzma has made an effort to give back to his hometown of Flint, Michigan. A big part of the Lakers forward’s upbringing in Flint was the YMCA, where he was able to freely play the game that would eventually earn him a multi-million dollar contract in the NBA and the endorsements that come along with it.

It’s for that reason Kuzma has made a conscious effort to give back to not just his childhood YMCA in Flint, but the YMCA in his new community in Los Angeles as well.

Last year at his first-ever basketball camp in Flint, Kuzma donated 300 backpacks and school supplies to the kids that attended. This year, Kuzma returned to Powers Catholic High School to host his free basketball camp and partnered with Uninterrupted to give away passes to the YCMA of Flint’s Safe Places Program, a summer and after school program that gives K-12 students food, education and a place to do physical activities.

It may seem like a small gesture, but Kuzma expressed why it’s so important for kids in Flint to have a place to go after school:

“The Safe Places program has the opportunity for kids to go to somewhere in the summer, or after school. They don’t have to worry about the negative things that go on in their house holds, the streets, they can go in a place with other kids, and they can play, and they can focus on their academics. To me that’s important because there’s a lot of kids out there that don’t have the ability to go to a place where they’re safe.”

Kuzma might not be the most famous or wealthiest athlete from Michigan, but he’s making sure to do everything he can to give back to his community, which puts him in a class of his own.

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