When Al Jefferson grew up in his small Mississippi town of Prentice, school supplies weren't easy to come by.
Now a successful adult — one with millions of dollars, at that — the newest member of the Utah Jazz is making sure a few dozen underprivileged Utah children and their parents no longer have a similar concern.
On Thursday, Jefferson met, chatted with and delivered scholastic-friendly backpacks loaded with pencils, notebooks, scissors, glue and the like to about 40 pumped-up kids and dozens of equally pumped-up parents who live at The Road Home-sponsored Palmer Court.
"I just figure," Jefferson said, "it's one less thing for them to worry about ... (so they can) focus more on school."
It was Jefferson who paid for the supplies and whose camp contacted organizers of the affordable housing facility, which provides permanent shelter for formerly homeless families in a transformed hotel on Main Street.
"I love kids. They (are) our future. It's all about them, so why not give back to help them?" the 25-year-old big man said. "I've been blessed. It's my turn to bless people — that's the way I look at it."
