Larry Nance Jr. grew up the son of an NBA player, so he’s never lacked for anything.
If it was up to the Pelicans’ big man, nobody else would ever have to want for anything either.
It’s why Nance is constantly doing what he can to give back to the city of New Orleans.
“I was born into a very privileged situation,” Nance said. “You can use that one of two ways. You can use your privilege to help others gain that. Or you use your privilege and rest on your laurels.”
Nance has always chosen the former, which is why on Sunday he hustled from the Pelicans’ practice straight to the Second Harvest of South Louisiana facility for his latest community service event.
It was the finale of Nance’s Zero Hunger Challenge, an initiative where he challenged juniors and seniors from New Orleans high schools to use their resources to address the root causes of food insecurity. Students from four high schools (Sophie B. Wright, the Willow School, Eleanor McMain and Frederick Douglass) made it to the final round Sunday and gave presentations on their plans to help with the hunger issues in the greater New Orleans area.
One thing was quite clear after watching the four presentations. There are some very promising leaders sitting in classrooms right here in this city. (Thankfully, I wasn’t one of the ones who had to judge this stiff competition.)
Frederick Douglass, with its “Keep It Growing” project where people are educated on growing their own food, was the winner. Their plan was the one Nance and the other judges felt could be implemented right away. But really everyone was a winner on this day.
“I was so impressed,” Nance said afterwards about all the contestants. “They reached out to the mayor and government officials and just went over and above any kind of goals I could have set for the program. It’s a true testament to the Orleans schools for the type of response and efforts they gave.”
The winning team received a $50,000 check ($10,000 per student). Nance was so impressed that he spontaneously wrote another $25,000 for the second-place team (the Willow School). Now Nance will do his part to help the schools put their plans in action to help fight hunger in the city.
“This is your community and no one can affect change the way you can,” Nance told the participants. “This is the start for you guys. This is your community, your place to change.”
This was the latest project for the always benevolent Nance. Last season he auctioned off his game jerseys with the proceeds going to different schools all across the city.
“What Larry is doing today, taking time out of his day, taking time out of his family’s day to impact the community here, he’s a leader,” Pelicans coach Willie Green said. “And his leadership goes a long way. It’s here in the community, it’s here on our team, it’s in Cleveland (his hometown), it’s in any city that he plays in. It’s refreshing to have a number of guys on our team to take a lead role in the community. We want our guys to continue to find their platform and figure out what it is they can do to help.”
Nance’s Zero Hunger Challenge started with him inquiring about another issue. He had read on X (formerly called Twitter) about kids having school lunch debt. He reached out to Avis Williams, superintendent of NOLA public schools to make sure that wasn’t an issue in New Orleans. It wasn’t. But it got Nance’s wheels turning, especially once he saw some statistics that he says were just too hard to ignore.
“New Orleans is a place known for its food and there are far too many residents that don’t have access to it,” Nance said. “This is the second highest food insecure city in all of the United States. And that’s a shame in a place where people love and create such an incredible product — their food.”
That led to some brainstorming by Nance and his wife Hailey as well as Swin Cash (Pelicans vice president of basketball operations and team development), Darvelle Hutchins (Pelicans vice president of Equity & Social Impact) and Ashley Amoss (basketball operations manager).
“We came up with something we could do to inspire change,” Nance said. “Change doesn’t happen without the youth. They’ve got to be bought in and they’ve got to be educated and tuned in to their communities future and the real problems in it.”
Turns out, they were.
Plans presented included everything from revitalizing corner stores in neighborhoods — an idea that worked successfully in Philadelphia — to food distribution.
One of the phrases used in McMain’s presentation perhaps summed up the Zero Hunger Challenge best.
It simply said “Don’t Drop the Ball”, something that also could apply to Nance. When it comes to giving back, he refuses to drop the ball. Nance has adhered to that since arriving in New Orleans two years ago after spending his first 6½ NBA seasons with the Los Angele Lakers, Cleveland Cavaliers and Portland Trail Blazers.
“I’m fortunate for the life I got to live,” Nance said. “There are others that need a platform, need a champion or someone that can shine a light on what’s going on in these communities. I try to stay involved, stay connected. This is 2½ years in New Orleans for me and hopefully we’ve got a bunch more years and we’ve got a lot more to come.”
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