Foundation

The Serge Ibaka Foundation is starting a Covid 19 relief program in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo. The program is focused on lightening up the food insecurity issues caused by the pandemic’s economic impact in Congo.

The Foundation, with the help of the Fondation Burotop, has sourced and organized 80 tons of food products to be distributed to 8.000 families in Brazzaville. The packages contain rice, sugar, milk, oil, pasta, canned food, and other products.

The first distribution phase will take place in the Ouenzé Neighbourhood before moving to other areas of the city.

“The impact that the coronavirus has had in my country is big. Although infections might have not been as high as expected, the economic consequences have put the population in a difficult position, and the Foundation exists to take action to help them. We decided to focus on food insecurity as it’s the most basic first need and many people are having difficulties to feed their families”, commented Serge Ibaka.

The Serge Ibaka Foundation would like to thank Diana Attye and the Fondation Burotop for their involvement and support in sourcing, organizing, and distributing the products.

On April 9th, Toronto’s favorite Raptor, Serge Ibaka, made a $100,000 pledge to support Fred Victor’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund; until April 30th, all donations to Fred Victor will be matched, up to $100,000 by the Serge Ibaka Foundation.

There are over 9,000 people who are living with homelessness in Toronto on any given night. The lack of affordable housing, and a shelter system that has been operating at capacity for years, are some of the difficult realities of our current homelessness crisis. What the outbreak of COVID-19 has effectively done is highlight just how precarious the lives of homeless people really are.

Fred Victor’s COVID-19 Emergency Fund will support the organization in its response to the pandemic and its overarching mission to improve the health, income, and housing stability of people experiencing poverty and homelessness.

Fred Victor CEO, Keith Hambly, says, “We are incredibly grateful for this generous gift and for Serge’s compassion and commitment to vulnerable people in Toronto. This pandemic has presented us with many challenges, but it is in the face of these challenges that we have seen people stepping up and giving back. It really does make a difference knowing that people like Serge are thinking of us and doing what they can to help.”

Serge has been a generous supporter of the CRC (now Fred Victor) and a friend of folks in Regent Park since 2019, and has been using his profile to change the way people think about poverty and homelessness long before the pandemic.

Last March, the Serge Ibaka Foundation partnered with CRC (now Fred Victor) to create the Fast Break Meals Partnership – an initiative that engages children and youth in Regent Park and helps the center provide thousands of free, nutritious meals to residents struggling with food insecurity.

Ibaka’s inspiration to get involved with CRC came about during his first days living in the city. “I grew up extremely poor in the Congo and I learned what hunger and homelessness were as a child. I was surprised to see so many people living on Toronto’s streets. It was difficult to understand how poverty and hunger could exist in such a wealthy city. I felt like the Foundation had to take action and try to make an impact in Toronto’s communities.”

Avec Classe is Serge Ibaka’s new show about fashion. In the second episode, Ibaka’s teammate OG Anunoby is the guest. On the show, the guest brings a special personal item to give away for charity. Our last guest, Marc Gasol, was the soul of the party at the Raptors 2019 Championship Parade. Now you have a chance to win the sunglasses he wore on that iconic day! The raffle will benefit the Serge Ibaka Foundation. Enter now for your chance to win by clicking the link below:

https://go.rallyup.com/marcavecclasse