AKRON -- Everyone knows that four years ago LeBron James took his talents to South Beach. But you might not realize that he didn't take his charitable foundation -- the LeBron James Family Foundation -- along with him.
"Looking back on it, I'll say it was the best thing that happened to the LeBron James Family Foundation," said Michelle Campbell, the foundation's executive director.
"It was during that year that we had a lot of conversations of where he wanted to take his foundation."
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The staff of the LeBron James Family Foundation stayed behind in Akron and his foundation kids remained his number 1 fans.
"The kids would say, 'well, he never left us,'" Campbell added.
In fact, foundation leaders reflect that those four years were an invaluable period of growth and that they were able to find their true purpose.
"That year defined who he was as a philanthropist and we said that we need to make a change," said foundation volunteer Konstantine Howley. "We can't just give out bikes. We have to make an impact."
The foundation decided to make a promise, a promise to establish long-term relationships with children and families with an ultimate goal of lifting the graduation rate for Akron schools.
"LeBron was committed to being a good role model and see the kids through graduation," Campbell said. "And the kids promise to do a whole lot of things, including listening to their teachers and doing their homework so they can be successful."
For many in Northeast Ohio, their first glimpse of the deep relationships LeBron has been building with "Wheels for Education" came when the students and their families paraded proudly into the University of Akron's InfoCision Stadium during the "Welcome Home LeBron" event.
Foundation volunteer Stephanie Myers said "It's about helping the kids, which in turn helps a family, which in turn helps a neighborhood and that just completely promotes the positive change that we want to see."
