HomeCommunity NewsKershaw’s Ping Pong 4 Purpose to Honor Magic Johnson Foundation

Kershaw’s Ping Pong 4 Purpose to Honor Magic Johnson Foundation

Every year, for one glorious night in Dodger Stadium, pingpong is much more than a child’s game. It’s an opportunity to impact a child’s life.
Star athletes and entertainers will compete in a celebrity pingpong tournament on the field at Dodger Stadium to raise money that helps children and their families off the streets, and also provides children from developing nations with life-changing but expensive medical procedures.
Held by Kershaw’s Challenge, the nonprofit organization led by Los Angeles Dodgers’ star pitcher Clayton Kershaw and his wife, Ellen, the 5th annual Ping Pong 4 Purpose, will be held Thursday, July 27, from 6:30-10:30 p.m. Jimmy Kimmel will serve as master of ceremonies.
The friendly pingpong tournament will pit approximately 30 celebrities against each other. (The ancient game has been a favorite pastime of Clayton Kershaw since his childhood days in Dallas.)
The Magic Johnson Foundation will be honored with the Kershaw’s Challenge Impact Award in recognition its lifetime of charitable work, with Magic Johnson accepting the award on his foundation’s behalf.
One of the beneficiaries of Ping Pong 4 Purpose will be the Los Angeles-based Dream Center’s Foster Care Intervention Program, which “provides food, clothing, diapers, cleaning supplies, appliances and furniture (for former foster children returning home). In some cases, the simple addition of a bed or safe crib is all a home needs to welcome back their child,” according to a spokesperson. The other beneficiary, CURE International, seeks to provide medical surgeries for children living in the Dominican Republic.
In recent years, Kershaw’s charity has purchased land in Zambia and built two homes for boys and girls with beneficiary Arise Africa; later the foundation helped fund land within the N’gombe compound. This year, the goal is to raise funds for a community school within the compound. Kershaw’s Challenge has sponsored life-altering surgeries for children in the Dominican Republic, suffering from the painful and debilitating clubfoot syndrome. The organization also supports the Dream Center, where young people benefit from a yearlong, life-changing, comprehensive program that feeds them, clothes them, and helps them get off the streets, get off of controlled substances (if necessary), complete their educations, find jobs and build new, productive lives.
Clayton and Ellen Kershaw’s Dallas-based charity stays active in their beloved home city, with endeavors that have included donating baseball equipment, building a field, renovating a community center and funding afterschool programming. Another goal of the Kershaws is building a handicap-accessible baseball field in Dallas.
In the past, the tournament has attracted stars such as Susan Sarandon, Will Ferrell, George Lopez, Matthew Perry, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Gabby Douglas, Craig Robinson, Kevin Frazier, Mario Lopez, current Dodgers such as Adrian Gonzalez, Yasiel Puig, Justin Turner, and Andre Ethier, Joc Pederson, as well as Doc Rivers, Eric Stonestreet, Ken Jeong, Josh Duhamel, Derek Hough and Dodgers legends such as Orel Hershiser and Eric Karros.
For more information, visit kershawschallenge.com.

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