Each month during the season, the WNBA Cares Community Assist Award recognizes a player
who best demonstrates the passion that the league and WNBA players share for giving back to
their communities. Today the WNBA announced Phoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner has been named the winner for June. This is Griner's second time winning the award (June 2017).
The league noted Griner’s efforts in championing the safe return of wrongful detainees overseas and continued contributions to help marginalized communities in the Phoenix area as the reason for her selection.
“I’m grateful to receive the community assist award and even happier to be able to donate the
award money to causes that mean a great deal to me: Phoenix Rescue Mission, my partner in my
annual shoe drive, and Bring Our Families Home, an organization close to my heart that is
advocating for the safe return of American hostages abroad,” Griner said in the press release.
“Thank you to all the fans in Phoenix and league-wide who joined me in supporting these causes by donating shoes or writing letters. My commitment will continue to be helping those who are struggling and shining a light on wrongfully detained Americans who should be home with their families," Griner added.
Griner and the Mercury have also hosted families and friends through this program at Mercury games in Phoenix and around the country when the team visits other markets.
The Phoenix Mercury and other teams in the league have hosted letter-writing stations for the Bring Our Families Home Campaign. At every Phoenix home game this season, fans can draft hand-written notes of hope and encouragement to those detained and calls for action to elected officials to continue to work to bring individuals home. Griner's efforts have helped the Mercury collect over 100 letters.
Since 2016, Griner has supported the local community through the BG Heart and Sole Shoe Drive. This season alone, the Mercury collected more than 1,000 pairs of shoes to be donated to
individuals in need. The program also partners with the Phoenix Rescue Mission, a
local nonprofit that provides comprehensive solutions for men, women and children trapped in
cycles of homelessness, addiction, and poverty.
Congratulations to Griner. Not only have her community efforts helped raise money for people in need of help, she has also shed light on families experiencing what she and her wife Cherelle did last year during Griner's wrongful detainment.
“Thank you to all the fans in Phoenix and league-wide who joined me in supporting these causes by donating shoes or writing letters. My commitment will continue to be helping those who are struggling and shining a light on wrongfully detained Americans who should be home with their families,"
I myself had no idea how many U.S. citizens are wrongfully detained each year until Griner and Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs Roger Carstens spoke to WNBA media after a Mercury game.
To honor and support Griner's efforts, the WNBA will make a $2,500 donation to Bring Our Families Home and a $2,500 donation to Phoenix Rescue Mission.
For as much as the WNBA is credited with being activists, I have personally found some of the campaigns wanting. I would call them advocates, but semantics aside, I am grateful Griner, the Mercury, and other WNBA franchises are continuing to use their platform to speak for others.
As Ari Chambers says, "The WNBA is so important."