Look To The Stars News: Yao Ming Foundation

Yao Ming Commits To Charity Following Basketball Retirement

Thu, 21 Jul 2011 14:00:00 +0000

Yao Ming may have retired from basketball, but that won’t stop his charity work.

The Chinese basketball star – who created the Yao Ming Foundation to build schools in China after the May 2008 earthquakes – officially announced his retirement from the game this week.

“I will keep devoting myself to social charity work,” said Ming at a press conference in Shanghai. “Yao Foundation, launched three years ago, is a project named after me. I promise here that it will keep going on.”

Yao Ming Fundraising For More Schools In China

Mon, 19 Jul 2010 13:00:00 +0000

According to Xinhua News Agency, basketball star Yao Ming is headed to China to fundraise for the Yao Ming Foundation, the charity he founded after China’s devastating earthquake in 2008.

Besides banquets, the fundraising activities will include two basketball games – one against China’s national team and one against the Shanghai Sharks team, which Ming reportedly now owns. Although Ming won’t be able to play due to his ongoing recovery from foot surgery, he’s bringing several other NBA players along to participate in the games.

Ming said in the interview with Xinhua that his Foundation has finished three of the six schools it committed to build in the quake-stricken area, and is almost finished the other three. Monies raised will go towards finishing the schools by September, and towards scholarships and youth sports development.

Yao Foundation and the Bush & Clinton Fund Are This Year’s Rocket Recipients

Thu, 25 Dec 2008 13:30:00 +0000

The Rocket’s 13th annual Tux & Tennies Charity Gala, coming in February, will award the event’s proceeds to the Bush Clinton Coastal Recovery Fund and the Yao Ming Foundation.

The basketball team wanted to help local communities rebuild after the effects of last autumn’s Hurricane Ike. But team player Yao Ming has another passion as well – his Yao Ming Foundation, created last spring in his country of origin, China.

Rockets.com quoted team owner Leslie Alexander: “There is still much work to be done in China to recover from the devastation that was caused by the earthquake there last May. Because these two natural disasters have affected so many lives in areas close to our hearts, I wanted to find a way to provide assistance to both causes.”

Nicole Richie Wants To Give You A Fruitcake For Christmas

Thu, 04 Dec 2008 14:00:00 +0000

Tony Hawk, Nicole Richie and Fall Out Boy are on a mission to “re-gift” the classic fruitcake this Christmas with a new charity application on Facebook.

“The fruitcake has always been a bad gift. You never eat it or keep it. You just always end up re-gifting it,” said skateboarding legend Tony Hawk. “This year we’re changing the fruitcake and making it a symbol of giving and charity.”

Two-pound fruitcake bricks will be given away through a PayPal application on Facebook to benefit the stars’ favorite charities. Recipients will be invited via a personal video to contribute through PayPal to the charities and “re-gift” the fruitcake to friends and family all across the world.

Yao Ming To Raffle Olympic Tickets For Earthquake Relief

Mon, 07 Jul 2008 14:30:00 +0000

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is raffling a trip to the Beijing Olympics to raise money for the Yao Ming Foundation, which he launched to help victims of the May 12 earthquake in China.

Tickets to the raffle, which can be accessed via www.netraffle.org, cost $2 each, and will give one lucky winner round-trip airfare from a US city to Beijing, a seven day stay at a hotel in Beijing from Aug. 7-14, two tickets to the China-USA basketball game at the Olympics, $1,500 cash, a guided tour of the Great Wall of China, two Houston Rockets jerseys autographed by Ming, two tickets to a Rockets game, and a chance to meet Ming after a Rockets game.

“I’m so proud that my country is hosting the 2008 Olympics,” said Ming. “I am thrilled that I can help fans visit China, experience the Games and, at the same time, help raise money for the Yao Ming Foundation as we begin our campaign to rebuild schools in the earthquake damaged provinces.”

Yao Ming To Build Schools In China

Tue, 01 Jul 2008 11:30:00 +0000

Following the devastating earthquakes last month in China’s Sichuan and Gansu provinces, Yao Ming – Chinese center for the Houston Rockets basketball team – felt compelled to do something and to do it quickly… so he created the Yao Ming Foundation.

In the long term, the Foundation will “raise funds and awareness of children’s wellness and welfare issues in China and the United States.” But more importantly in the short term, it will address the immediate needs of the children in China affected by the quake, specifically the need for earthquake-proof schools.

“It is very hard to put into words how difficult it is to see this kind of destruction,” said Yao. “My thoughts and actions are now focused on helping to rebuild the schools that were destroyed in this tragedy and I hope that others around the world will join in our efforts.”