Amidst the long list of awards and achievements in his NBA career, Michael Jordan stands out for his actions to make the world a better place. Being the first NBA star to become a billionaire, Jordan knew how to give it back to people.
Over the course of his fifteen seasons of on-court performance, he has won hearts not only on-court but also off-court. Jordan met his first wife Juanita Vanoy at a Chicago Bennigans restaurant after a Bulls game. They got married in 1989, and she was there to witness his journey from a rising star to a legend.
Vanoy and Jordan were married for 17 years and had three beautiful children. Namely, Jeffrey Jordan, Jasmine Jordan, and Marcus Jordan. She candidly spoke about parenting in an interview and told the decisions she took when they were young.
She stated, “It was important for me to instill in them that they needed to give back”. While also talking about how she took them to her mom’s place to show where she lived, and the southside of Chicago. She continued, “What the real world was about.”
As she put light on the fact that they enjoy life because of their wealth while being unaware of how the real world works. Marcus also revealed in an interview how he and his sibling grew humble because of their mom’s parenting and narrated stories of visiting their maternal grandmother.
Michael Jordan donated $10 million to the Make-A-Wish Foundation on his 60th birthday
We can’t give sole credit to Vanoy for how her children grew up to be, as she was instilling the philanthropic beliefs of Jordan. He was actively working to channel his beliefs into actions that can be counted on.
Jordan donated $10 million to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to honor his 60th birthday. The donation was to fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses. Additionally, this is not the only donation made by him to the foundation.
Michael Jordan:
▪️$30m in donations last 5 yrs
▪️Funded 2 health clinics in NC
▪️”I give for the basis of giving, not to advertise & not to promote”
▪️Would choose Pippen, Magic, Worthy & Hakeem for a pickup game pic.twitter.com/36g9R4VWdv— Jumpman History (@HistoryJumpman) October 22, 2019
Back in 1989 when Jordan’s career was at an early stage, he donated more than $5 million to them. Additionally, he has donated to multiple foundations and causes over the years. One of the other prominent ones is his donation of $50 million in 2020 to organizations that were working for racial equality.
His children have been following in his footsteps because of the beliefs instilled at a young age by Vanoy. As can be witnessed by Jasmine’s initiative of the “Wings Scholars Program” which grants scholarships to underprivileged students. She exemplifies that Vanoy was successful in her parenting.
