Back SportsPage.com sat down with Devin Harris of the New Jersey Nets to discuss his charitable endeavors.   The ex-Wisconsin Badger was the #5 draft pick of the Washington Wizards in 2004 and was immediately traded to the Dallas Mavericks. In 2008, he was traded to New Jersey for future Hall of Famer Jason Kidd.  Harris has been active in the community in both places as well as in Wisconsin, his home state.  Harris spoke openly with Alexis O’Shea about the upcoming projects and goals of his 34 Ways to Assist Foundation.

Q: Can you tell us about the 34 Ways to Assist Foundation?

A: When I initially entered the NBA, I was lucky enough to join a great organization in Dallas.  I saw the Mavericks running camps and other events and wanted to contribute as well.  Now in New Jersey, I can use the experiences from both Dallas and my childhood to try and make a difference.  

You have to focus on making an impact. The first program we became involved with was the Make a Wish Foundation.  While we didn’t have a direct contact, I saw the impact the foundation had on one of my childhood friends who had been diagnosed with cancer.  I liked the idea of helping children’s wishes to come true, especially while they are going through such a tough transition in their life.

The second program is the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. We didn’t have a direct connection, but I had a mentor growing up who played basketball in our area and went to my high school. He had already gone through many of the things I was trying to figure out. He was a mentor through both college and going to the NBA. I saw the direct correlation to the Big Brothers Big Sisters of America. I started working directly with these foundations and have remained as active as my schedule would allow.

Q: Why did you use kids as the centerpiece of your foundation?

A: Kids are an important part of our future. You see so many kids falter because they don’t have any  direction or a stable environment. I saw this first hand and wanted to be involved whether in Milwaukee, Dallas or New Jersey.  We want to provide an environment where kids can feel safe. It’s not only about basketball. These clinics have a dual purpose, to raise money for charity as well as to educate kids on a variety of topics. 

Q: Do you have a staff that works with you on these projects?

A: Yes, we have a staff that works with us. We run an AAU camp out of Milwaukee. It’s a clinic adapted from camps which I attended when I was younger. At most of these camps, the expectation is that you will only play basketball.  With our camp, we spend a lot of time on education.  We started preparing the children for college and have them work on educational projects often beyond what is offered in city schools.  The goal is for the kids to have fun with these projects since nobody really wants to spend the summer in school.  In addition, the campers participate in other sports such as golf and  track. 

Q: Who is the camp geared towards?

A: The camp is for low risk kids who can’t afford to go the basketball camps in the area. We run a separate camp for challenged children in Madison.

Q: Do you remember any particular event that made you want to start giving back into the community?

A: It started in elementary school with an event called high interest day.  People from different fields would discuss their jobs with kids.  I appreciated it then and went back as a high school student.    I connected and communicated well with the kids because I am just a big kid at heart.  I was able to relate to the challenges that they were going through. They see me as someone who is successful and want to know how to find that path.

Q: Do you think your talent that you have on the court matches your amount of passion you give back to kids?

A: I think so. Everybody has a purpose and I am in a blessed enough position to help and give back to those less fortunate. This is not  hard work -  it comes quite natural to me.

Q: Where can they find more information about the camps and other events?

A: You can find the most current information on these events on my website, www.devin34harris.com. We also send out mailings. The camp is held in Milwaukee over a four day time period and features the previously mentioned activities.  While many sponsors of such camps will come for limited periods of time, I will be there from start to finish. 

Q: Have you thought about expanding your foundation to other parts of the country?

A: We have, but Milwaukee is first and foremost since it’s both where I grew up and near where I went to college.   We are looking to expand more into New Jersey as well as Dallas, where I started my career and currently spend my offseason.

Q: What type of advice can you give kids who have been told that they can’t do something?

A: . You are going to have doubters throughout your life but if you use that doubt for motivation,   you can achieve greatness.  When both my high-school and college coaches stated their doubts, I used both for motivation.   Furthermore, when you finally reach those goals, it becomes even more satisfying. 

Q: How was your relationship with your former college coach Bo Ryan?

A: He was great from day one.  Coach would use real life to help teach basketball, which I really admire.  He was great at relating basketball to the real world. An example of that is a story about how one of his old players used to chase around screens.  Later in life as a firefighter, he would use those skills to maneuver through a burning house.   I remember that story to this day.

For more information about Devin Harris’s 34 Ways to Assist Foundation, please visit www.devin34harris.com.

Sports Day is the fifth and final event of “Passport to Fitness,” the NETS’ program led by Harris that encourages youngsters to participate in fun fitness and nutrition activities. The first four events included a basketball/fitness clinic, and classes in karate, dance, and indoor rock climbing.

Sports Day activities will include long jump, three-legged race, basketball relay, tug of war, and a Frisbee throw.

Each event is attended by Harris and the same 30 kids, who range in age from eight to 16.  Through the program’s different activities, the youngsters learn various approaches on how to stay fit and healthy.

Participants in the program receive a passport that is stamped after each activity.

Media Invited to Cover

WHO: NETS star Devin Harris and 30 kids from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morris, Bergen, and Passaic counties.

WHAT: Sports Day as part of the “Passport to Fitness” program.

WHEN: TOMORROW, Thursday, March 25, 4:00 p.m. – 5:30 p.m.

WHERE: PNY Center, 390 Murray Hill Parkway, East Rutherford, NJ.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 18% of 12-19 year olds are obese. This is especially significant given the myriad of social and medical problems associated with obesity, including heart disease and Type 2 diabetes. Furthermore, over 75% of adolescents in the United States do not eat enough fruits and vegetables. Clearly the messages about healthy diets are largely being ignored to the detriment of our society. In addition to this lack of interest in maintaining a healthy life style, there is also a decided apathy towards science. Indeed, in a recent speech by Ralph Cicerone, President of the National Academies of Sciences, entitled “How Healthy is Science in the United States?” Mr. Cicerone commented that science in general in this country is trailing behind that of others. “Sadly, our nation has fallen behind in work on scientific discovery in some fields, and the education of scientists at every level – from the youngest school children to our most advanced postdoctoral students – must be strengthened.” One cannot help but notice that the health of our children and the state of science is, in general, impaired.

Project CRYSTAL, developed by Hazel Holden, Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin, Dan Toomey, Middle School Science Teacher at Edgewood School, and three of Holden’s graduate students, Nate Bruender, Amanda Carney, and Rachel Kubiak, was designed to address these two issues facing our nation at a “grass roots” level. Its mission is threefold in nature: (i) to instill a love for chemistry in middle school students by studying the main food elements: proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates, (ii) to provide hands-on laboratory experience in an active, state-of-the-art research laboratory thus fostering interest in a future science career, and (iii) to make chemistry more accessible to “at-risk” students by outreach activities.

The curriculum aspect of Project Crystal is based around three modules presently being developed. The sixth grade module begins with basic concepts of matter, including a discussion of electrons, neutrons, protons, atoms, molecules, and chemical bonding. It culminates with a discussion of common sugars. The seventh grade module focuses on the main chemical concepts associated with fats including trans fats, saturated fats, unsaturated fats, and cholesterol. Finally, the eighth grade module concentrates on the chemistry and three-dimensional structures of proteins. By studying the biochemistry of sugars, fats, and proteins, the students will ultimately be able to make informed choices on what foods they eat.

The scientific mentoring aspect of Project CRYSTAL currently involves six young scientists from Edgewood School that spend three hours each week in the laboratory working with the graduate students. Research in the Holden laboratory centers around the enzymes required for the biosynthesis of unusual sugars that are found attached, for example, to some antibiotics, antitumor agents, or to the outer surfaces of bacteria. The main technique employed in the laboratory is x-ray crystallography, which is a powerful method that allows one to “see” a protein in three dimensions. For this technique, crystals need to be grown of the protein of interest. During the fall of 2008, the Edgewood students (two each from sixth, seventh, and eighth grades) learned the basic elements of molecular biology including cloning, protein expression, and purifications. Indeed, one of their proteins has already crystallized!

Ensuring that the goal of Project CRYSTAL is more widespread than to just Edgewood Middle School, our third mission is developing outreach activities specifically aimed at underprivileged youth. To this end we participated in the Devin Harris basketball camp held in August 2009 in Milwaukee. Harris is an NBA All-Star who plays for the New Jersey Nets. Part of his mission is to provide athletic and academic opportunities to at-risk students. He has hosted the Devin Harris Recreation Camp in Milwaukee for four years, and the camp includes an educational component. In addition to playing basketball and other sports, students attend class for one and a half hours each day for four days. We taught over 360 students, ranging in ages from 7 to 15, about the nutrition of sugars through readings and experiments (pictures can be found at www.projectcrystal.org/outreach). Each student left with a poster we designed about carbohydrates, and the science behind why too much added sugars to foods can be unhealthy. For the camp this August Project CRYSTAL has been asked to increase our participation to four days, where we will be providing interactive, standards-based, health-conscious activities for students. In addition to the Milwaukee camp, Project CRYSTAL has partnered with Edgewood College, UW-Madison, and Madison School Community Recreation (MSCR) to create a similar basketball camp in Madison. The goal of our outreach activities is to move the topic of chemistry from the “dull and boring” realm to a “cool and relevant” subject.

WEST ORANGE – Victor Muniz was going through another rigorous physical therapy session at the Kessler Rehabilitation Institute last Thursday afternoon, the second of the day.

It’s a two-a-day workout routine that the 22-year-old Muniz has become accustomed to, ever since the freak accident near West Hudson Park last June that had the Kearny native trapped under a giant tree during a nasty thunderstorm, an accident that left Muniz paralyzed from the waist down.

But on Thursday, things were just a little different, when Muniz recognized the face that entered his second floor wing while he was going through his therapy exercise.

“I told my therapist I had to go,” Muniz said. “Because Devin Harris was here to see me.”

That’s right, the New Jersey Nets’ standout point guard paid a visit to Muniz at Kessler Thursday, a meeting that was arranged by The Observer through Nets’ senior vice-president/chief relationship officer Leo Ehrline.

Ehrline was informed of Muniz’ plight and he arranged to have a Nets player pay a visit to Muniz.

And who better could visit the former point guard and captain of the Kearny High School basketball team than the current point guard and floor leader of the Nets?

“Here’s a guy like Devin Harris, an NBA star, coming to see a guy like me,” Muniz said. “I mean, you don’t get a chance to see him, unless he’s on TV or unless you have tickets. But even then, it’s far away. I got a chance to sit and have a conversation with him about anything. It was great.”

Muniz told Harris the story of that fateful night, when he was simply walking through West Hudson Park as a shortcut to get home, ironically after watching the NBA Finals.

“I don’t know what happened, but the tree broke and I was under the tree for like 15 minutes,” Muniz told Harris. “It took like six people to move the tree and get me out, but I already broke my spine.

Added Muniz, “The next day, the doctors told me that I was paralyzed. I didn’t believe it until I heard it the fourth time. But then I said, `Well, that’s life. That’s what God wanted for me.’”

Muniz told Harris that when the accident first happened, “I couldn’t move at all.”

But through the hard work and dedication of the great people at Kessler, Muniz is getting better. He has movement in his arms. His hands are improving with every passing day. He is learning to care for himself more and more.

“I’ve come a long way,” Muniz said. “I’ve learned to wheel myself around. I’ve never had a bad day since I’ve been here. It’s never been negative. I was first upset how it all happened, but I’ve realized that it’s just one of those things. Stuff happens.”

Harris, who came to the Nets last year from the Dallas Mavericks as part of the trade that sent Jason Kidd to Dallas, talked to Muniz about a variety of topics. After all, they aren’t far removed in age _ Harris is 25 _ and they shared the same position on the floor, namely point guard.

Muniz asked Harris what it was like to play against Dwyane Wade of the Miami Heat, who admittedly is Muniz’ favorite player. Harris said that he not only played against Wade in the NBA, but the two squared off when Harris was at the University of Wisconsin and Wade was attending Marquette.

Muniz knew a lot about Harris’ career, recalling Harris’ best game in the NBA with ease, knowing that Harris left Wisconsin early to apply for the NBA Draft.

“I left early because my Mom told me it was time,” said Harris, who was drafted fifth overall by the Mavericks four years ago.

Harris asked Muniz what his plans were.

“I’m looking for a girl,” Muniz laughed. “But there aren’t many around here. Maybe I can find a cute therapist.”

The two continued to chat like old friends for almost an hour. Harris presented Muniz with an autographed pair of his sneakers. It turned out to be a meeting that could last a lifetime.

“Victor’s been dealt with a difficult hand and yet, he’s still living with it,” Harris said. “It was definitely a freakish accident. He’s in great spirits. It’s a sad situation, but he’s learned to deal with it. It’s great to see him in great spirits. He’s having fun and being himself. It was great to see. So many other people feel sorry for themselves and don’t try to get better. Victor has from Day One accepted what happened and has been dealing with it. He wants to move forward. You never know what can happen in just a minute. It’s very sad.”

Harris said that he was motivated and uplifted by visiting with Muniz.

“I’m definitely glad that I met him,” Harris said. “He really was an inspiration and makes you realize that you can’t take the simple things for granted.”

Harris invited Muniz to attend a Nets’ game when his rehabilitation at Kessler is done and he’s able to go back home.

One of Muniz’ best friends at Kessler, an Army veteran named Nathan DeWalt from Pennsylvania, was able to go home right at the same time Harris was visiting Thursday.

“There’s a sense of sadness that I’m saying goodbye to him,” Muniz said. “We’ve been together since I got here. We’re best friends now. We hit it off from the minute I got here and we hang together every day. I’m going to miss him. We’re planning on going to Florida on a vacation together.”

Muniz said that he was floored when he realized Harris was visiting him.

“It made me feel great,” Muniz said. “I mean, for a pro star like that to take the time off of his busy schedule to come and see me? It’s the beginning of the season, where they’re practicing, lifting weights, shooting, and he took the time out of that schedule to come here. I loved every minute of it. He’s a good guy. It was amazing that he was here.

Added Muniz, “He was himself. He didn’t have the big ego. He came in here and hung out with me. We talked about normal stuff. It was great. There aren’t a lot of pro athletes who would do that for someone like me.”

Muniz said that it feels good that there are so many people who still care about him.

“No one has forgotten about me,” Muniz said. “I have so many friends who do so much for me. It shows how people care by how big their hearts are.”

Muniz continues to work toward two goals _ going home and walking again. His return home is eminent.

“I’m going to be OK, as soon as I can go home,” Muniz said. “I’ve been away for four months and through that time, people in Kearny have been praying for me, thinking about me and that’s kept me going. I’m definitely going to walk again. I’m never giving up on that. God has enabled me to work hard in therapy and I have for three hours a day. I was in bad shape when I got here, but I’m better now.”

And not once has Muniz’ spirits wavered.

“I swear, I’m never negative,” Muniz said. “I have so much help from my friends. They’re always here and they’re always caring for me. It’s like I’ve been home. The only difference is that I’m in the hospital. But that’s going to change soon.”

Muniz said that he plans on returning home to Kearny within a month or so.

“Then, I’ll take a little vacation,” Muniz said.

Harris made sure that he will keep in touch with Muniz and hopes to see him at a game very soon.

“It was very uplifting for me to meet him,” Muniz said. “To see a star like that come here? It’s amazing. Maybe we helped each other.”

Could very well be.

Harris joins an impressive array of nominees, including Steve Nash, Mia Hamm, and Venus Williams. Past winners of the Jefferson Award include Oprah Winfrey, U.S. Senator Ted Kennedy, and Bill & Melinda Gates.

Harris’ foundation, the 34 Ways to Assist Foundation, works with Make-A-Wish and Big Brothers Big Sisters in the New Jersey area to provide “emotional mentoring and healthy living” to kids in need. His philanthropy extends beyond New Jersey, to his home state of Wisconsin, where he created the Devin Harris Playground League so underprivileged kids would have a safe place to play. To learn more about Harris’s community service, visit his profile on www.allstarshelpingkids.org.

In addition to honoring philanthropic athletes, All Stars Helping Kids and the Jefferson Awards are encouraging fans to “get in the game” by:

1. Voting for Harris online or via text message. To vote for Devin Harris text STAR19 to 55333. (sponsored by AT&T and facilitated by Txtstation)
2. Telling their friends to vote
3. Following Harris’s lead and volunteering in their community
4. Nominating a local hero for a regional Jefferson Award for Public Service.

All Stars Helping Kids was founded by NFL Hall-of-Famer Ronnie Lott in 1989 with the goal of promoting a safe, healthy, rigorous learning environment for disadvantaged kids in low-income communities. All Stars achieves this mission by pooling the resources of athletes, corporations and individuals to support high-performing academic and physical enrichment programs.

The Jefferson Awards for Public Service is a prestigious national recognition system honoring community and public service in America. The Jefferson Awards were established in 1972 by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, U.S. Senator Robert Taft, Jr. and Sam Beard to establish a Nobel Prize for public service. Today, their primary purpose is to serve as a “Call to Action for Volunteers” in local communities.

For more information about the award contact Sarah Bennett at (650) 363-1395 or sarah@allstarshelpingkids.org.

Harris, the team’s starting point guard and only star, is trying to do it one local appearance at a time.

“I’ve always been a fan of being personal with fans, to see me up close, rather than just giving money to charity,” he said, as he signed his name to the small yellow picture frames given to about 50 shoppers and fans by Western Union, a Nets sponsor that invited Harris to the supermarket, where it has a money transfer outlet.

“I just like connecting with people,” he said, a rack of Bundt cakes behind his chair.

Since his arrival at the Izod Center in the Meadowlands in February 2008, Harris has told the team to keep giving him community assignments. “I try to fit everything in,” he said.

His injured groin has limited him to two of the Nets’ seven games this season, all of them losses.

While he was growing up in Milwaukee, Harris said, the Bucks’ coach, George Karl, and guard Ray Allen were models of community involvement. When he played in Dallas, his Mavericks teammates Dirk Nowitzki and Josh Howard inspired his civic work ethic.

“I learned that it’s expected of me,” said Harris, who has a foundation, 34 Ways to Assist, to help children.

His off-the-court schedule shows that he had breakfast with a hero police officer at a Dunkin’ Donuts in Hackensack, N.J., helped clean Branch Brook Park in Newark before its Cherry Blossom Festival and took a cooking class at Fabulous Foods in Moonachie, N.J., with youngsters from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Morris, Bergen and Passaic counties.

Harris drove an eighth grader in Hawthorne, N.J., to school in his Ferrari, appeared with Nets center Brook Lopez at M&M’s World in Manhattan (M&M’s is the team’s official candy), conducted clinics, hiked, climbed rocks and bowled with youngsters.

“I’m sort of like a kid myself, so anything with kids is fun,” he said.

No Net does more locally, although all are active. But Harris has appeared solo, or with teammates and coaches, at about half of the team’s events in New York and New Jersey since he arrived 21 months ago.

“If we asked him to do too much, he would tell us,” said Brett Yormark, chief executive of Nets Sports and Entertainment.

Major league athletes regularly attend events at stores, hospitals and schools; the N.B.A. requires their players’ community involvement. Harris would be active under any circumstance, but he and his teammates must simultaneously maintain the franchise’s New Jersey fan base while building one in Brooklyn, where the team hopes to move in a few years to an arena that is part of the long-delayed Atlantic Yards project.

“Fans are in a tough situation,” Harris said. “They wonder where we’re going, to Newark or Brooklyn.”

The team will probably decide in January to move from the Izod Center to a temporary home, the Prudential Center, in Newark, until the Brooklyn arena is completed. The move to Brooklyn depends on a pending New York appellate court’s decision on the use of eminent domain at the site. Meanwhile, a Russian billionaire, Mikhail D. Prokhorov, is trying to buy 80 percent of the team and 45 percent of the proposed arena.

“From Day 1, we’ve had two strategies,” Yormark said. “One, to market ourselves as if we’re staying long term in New Jersey to give people a reason to come to see us. But it’s important to seed our brand in Brooklyn.”

Harris, wearing an untucked pullover and jeans, quietly charmed those who either read of his lightly marketed appearance at the supermarket or rolled a cart over to see what the small commotion was about.

“You’re so cute!” one woman said, while a man marveled at Harris’s jumper. “And you’re just a baby,” he said.

After Harris signed Gwen Williams’s picture frame, she said over her shoulder, “Thanks for coming to Newark!”

As she self-checked her bag of groceries, Williams said: “Not many people like him come to Newark. People think Newark’s the pits, and I think it is, too. I think it’s great that he came because you need money to go the Prudential Center. But I wish he’d stood outside so kids can see an African-American role model.”