Happy birthday, Patty Mills

There is no secret that Patty Mills has interests beyond basketball. His vision is global and his impact is growing.

• Recently, Patty spoke about his personal confrontations with systemic racism.
• He has donated the remainder of his 2019-2020 salary — over $1M — to Black Lives Matter causes.
• He spent his honeymoon launching the Community Water Project. Mills returned home to support citizens of Walgett during a drought.
• He created a Mother’s Day coffee club to support local businesses in the time of a pandemic.
• He helped raise $100K for Family Violence Prevention Services.

The list goes on.

But basically, one thing is clear — Patty Mills does amazing things.

He’s more than just a basketball player. He’s the Spurs spirit animal and a global ambassador to humanitarian causes.

My wife looked at me cross-eyed when I told her I wanted to make a pilgrimage to where Mills grew up, some of the places he has returned to spread awareness, love, and support. If Argentinians can come to San Antonio for Manu, I can make the trip watch Patty play with the Boomers.

So instead of wishing him a happy birthday, we should all be asking Patty how we can help. Every time he posts a new cause, I donate. He’s basically my Oprah.

It may not be much, but if every one of who owns an electronic device gave $5, we’d know it was supporting a great cause and we’d know it was going a long way.

Right now, Patty has helped create “We Got You,” and you can watch their virtual press conference here.

Patty, where you lead, I will follow. Please continue to show the way and shed light on parts of the world I might otherwise not see.

And happy birthday.

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