Shaquille O’Neal has undoubtedly been blessed in this life. The basketball star has made smart business decisions and invested his money, in addition to amassing a fortune in the NBA.
He continues to reap the benefits of his hard work today.
As one of the wealthiest athletes around, Shaq, 49, not only splurges on himself and his family—he also makes sure to share his blessings with others. He is well-known for his charitable acts and has been viral many times.
Shaq challenged himself every time he left the house to do at least one good thing. It appears that he has been faithfully following through with this goal.
Shaq’s latest show of generosity involved a Texas family of 11, known on Instagram as “The Collins Kids.”
In an Instagram post on February 23, Karissa, the family’s matriarch, shared how they became the recipients of Shaq’s generous acts.
Last month, the sports star surprised the family with a visit and treated them to dinner at Babe’s Chicken.
“It was so much fun to just hang out and eat dinner with him,” Karissa, 36, wrote on Instagram and Facebook.
But Shaq didn’t want it all to end with a simple dinner. He took his family to a Mercedes Benz showroom the next day and bought them a brand-new, 15-passenger van!
“He didn’t even know we were outgrowing our 12 passenger van and the air conditioning wasn’t always working the greatest and so this is such an outrageous blessing,” said Karissa, who has another baby on the way. “They didn’t have any in stock and so we got to customize and order a van that should be here in July.”
Karissa’s husband, former Harlem Globetrotter Mandrae Collins, is a manager at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Fort Worth.
After that, Shaq took them to dinner at Rainforest Café, where he paid for another table’s entire meal, not knowing they came from out of state and were there on missions.
And after learning that their waitress’ car broke down that day, the basketball legend tipped the server with a whopping $1,000.
Mandrae, 38 years old, had a truck that had been without heat and air conditioning for a while. Shaq didn’t know about this, but when he saw the vehicle, he decided to take the family to a Ford dealership and bought the dad a new truck!
Shaq had other gifts than the material presents and meals.
“He also spent time encouraging us and loving on our children and speaking life into our family,” Karissa added. “I am completely lost for words.”
Karissa, owner of Rooted in Christ Boutique and blogger, was asked by a Facebook fan how she connected with Shaq.
Karissa shared her story about how Shaq came to know Karissa on a January 12th post.
“A few months ago he reached out to me on Instagram and sent my kids a video about how much he loved watching them and to call him Uncle Shaq,” she wrote.
Shaq told Karissa that he wanted to visit them one day, and Karissa agreed.
“We of course would LOVE to meet him and just hang out with him. I grew up watching him play ball and my kids LOVE seeing him in all his commercials and movies,” she said.
Shaq happened to be in town on Karissa’s birthday, so the star came by to see them. She described the once-in-a-lifetime experience as “surreal.”
“He came in and played “Watch ya mouth” with the kids, loved on them, encouraged them, entertained them, took pics with them, gave them gifts, encouraged us as parents, and just showed us so much love,” Karissa recalled.
Karissa observed that Anthym (her youngest child) and Anchor (her second child) are wary of new people. They were able to take to Shaq quickly and asked him to hold them.
Shaq’s efforts to give back to the community are truly inspiring and something we should all emulate in our own little ways!
You may follow “The Collins Kids” on Instagram.
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