ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, Fla.---
“Wake up ya’ll!" can be heard on the streets of the historic Winwood neighborhood in East Altamonte Springs.
It’s an early Saturday morning at the Boys and Girls Club, but there’s still plenty of time to make a difference.
“Wake ya’ll people up,” Tameka Simons says as she encourages a group of volunteers and broadcasts on Facebook live. She’s getting the word out for a back pack drive. The first event for her families non-profit, Be a Light Inc.
“This really is a dream come true,” Tameka said. “This is something that we’ve always wanted to be able to do.”
“We just wanted to give back to the kids in the community,” her husband Charles Simons said. “To have a sense of normalcy for them.”
Tameka grew up here, so did their son. You might have heard of him, Portland Trail Blazers guard Anfernee Simons. Anfernee is currently in the NBA Bubble at the ESPN Wide World of Sports.
“This room is getting smaller and smaller every day,” Anfernee said via video conference from his hotel room.
Anfernee played high school basketball at Edgewater High School, Montverde Academy, and did a post-grad year at IMG Academy. He’s not able to be at the event, but he’s still finding a way to make an impact via personal letter in each back pack.
“Just told them that the school year hasn’t been what they thought it was going to be, but I just told them to continue to strive to be the best version of yourself, continue to work hard and continue to believe in yourselves,” Anfernee said.
This back pack drive is the first of many initiatives Anfernee and his family hope to put on as part of Be a Light Inc.
“Something that me and my family always talked about,” Anfernee said. “I just want to put people in a position to have an equal opportunity to become successful.”
Life, basketball, school it all looks different right now, but they hope events like this can help create a brighter future.
“Giving to people that need it I can’t even put into words how gratifying that is,” Tameka said “For us we can do it on a bigger stage but we are just a part of the community that’s trying to help,” Charles said.