SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA - FEBRUARY 08: Patty Mills #8 of the San Antonio Spurs warms up before the ... [+]
Like many of his peers, San Antonio Spurs guard Patty Mills has done his best to remain in shape, even sharing home workouts with his wife Alyssa on their Instagram pages, and waiting on what’s next with the NBA looking to resume play in July. It’s uncertain whether the league would look to conclude the full remainder of the regular season — which would give the Spurs a chance to compete for the eighth seed — or go right into postseason play.
“When you understand the magnitude of what’s involved in making those decisions, I give a lot of credit to Adam Silver, Michelle Roberts and our players association in doing all the heavy lifting.” Mills told Forbes. “When they release that information, we’ll cross that bridge and deal with it then. In terms of what I favor, I obviously want to be able to get on the court as soon as we can but there’s a lot that goes into making that decision.”
While being quarantined, Mills has kept a close watch on how the coronavirus has impacted San Antonio. With currently being the longest tenured Spur, he’s naturally formed a strong bond with the city. The Mills are often present at local community event and Mills is active in both individual and team-related charitable efforts in the city.
Their latest charitable contribution was powered by way of a social media campaign dubbed #GIVEMAMACOFFEE. He announced the campaign a few days before Mother’s Day, asking fellow San Antonians to purchase coffee from one of eight local cafes on Mother’s Day. Mills then donated double the sales totals and the final tally was $103,965.76, which was donated to the Battered Women and Children’s Shelter in San Antonio.
Mills, alongside wife Alyssa during the #GIVEMAMACOFFEE campaign on Mother's Day.
On average, the women who come to the shelter have three children with them. Housing, food, legal services, schooling, and counseling are just some of the free services offered. Mills choose the charity because of the startling rise of domestic violence while stay-at-home or ordinances were instituted to keep citizens safe.
“We knew the facts and in 2019, Bexar County, which is San Antonio, had the highest rate of domestic violence related homicides in the entire state,” Mills said. “Here comes a pandemic and during the first few weeks, the SAPD (San Antonio Police Department) released numbers showcasing an 18 percent increase in family violence calls.
“As San Antonio Spurs players, we have a responsibility for our community,” he continued. “I think as players and as a team, how we can contribute to bettering the community during these times, I really think it holds some pretty significant weight.”
Many of those who participated in the campaign have taken to social to petition Mills for a sequel. While he couldn’t think of what another campaign would look like, he is hopeful that this could be the start of others creating their own initiatives.
“I hope that this campaign creates a ripple effect, where people who learn about it through social media can replicate it in their communities to make a positive impact if they’re re in a position to,” Mills said. “Look at how much good came from something simple as a cup of coffee.”
It has been quite the year for Mills in terms of rollercoaster emotions. Like most of us, he wonders how we all can best move forward during these unprecedented times, while also remembering the amount of damage his home country of Australia is recovering from after one of their most devastating fire seasons in history.
Mills spent the All-Star break in Australia building water panels for communities, a bird a wombat sanctuary while also providing resources to local businesses and those affected by the fires. The fires spanned over 240 days going back to last June. Only a few weeks after his return, the NBA suspended was suspended.
The veteran guard has seen great resiliency in his home country as they work to recover from billions in damages and in wildlife lost. In drawing from that experience, when thinking on the message he would provide to those currently facing their own tough times during this period, he offered three words that have helped him in both his professional career and personal life.
“Keep the passion,” Mills said. “You have to be able to connect and re-connect to the passionate things that got you to a certain point in the first place. If you can connect and continue to hold onto that passion, that’s the key thing that will help you get through tough times.”
