The world is still grieving the loss of Kobe Bryant. Since Sunday, it’s been tough for all of us to really take it in that the legend is gone. Watching him be able to play in the NBA and seeing the type of man he was off the court was. truly a blessing for all of us.
Yes, Bryant was a 5x NBA champion, 18x All-Star, 11x All-NBA First Team, and a 2x Olympian but he made an impact off the court for many people as well. Scott Charles, a gun violence educator, took to Twitter on the day of Bryant’s passing to tell an amazing story of how he helped a young woman in his hometown of Philadelphia.
Back in 2007, Bryant really wanted to help a family who was greatly affected by gun violence in the Philly area. He got together with a car dealer to give a wheelchair accessible van to a mother named Chinika Perez who lost her legs in a shooting. Bryant didn’t want media around when he gifted Perez the chair. On Christmas of that year, he even gave her and her family a suite for the Lakers’ game vs the Sixers.
Bryant ended up meeting Perez in the suite and the conversation with her and her family lasted for a good hour. On Sunday, Perez ended up texting Charles to make sure the news about Bryant wasn’t true. Sadly, it was. These type of memories about Bryant though only adds on to his amazing legacy on and off the court. We will all greatly miss him. Prayers go out to his family along with the victims’.
Flip the pages for Charles’ touching store on Kobe Bryant helping Chinika Perez and her family.