PHILADELPHIA — Tyrese Maxey is more than a multi-time All-Star for the Sixers. He is a person with a commitment to service instilled in him by his family. That commitment was on full display during the Tyrese Maxey Foundation‘s third annual Friends & Family Weekend.

The annual weekend consists of three events: the Night of Giving, an opening-night gala that raises funds for the foundation while recognizing community partners and scholarship recipients; the Tyrese Maxey Celebrity Golf Tournament; and the 1% Skills Camp, a free basketball camp for more than local 250 children.

The weekend began with the Night of Giving, where a sold-out crowd of foundation supporters, community members and members of the Sixers organization — including Maxey’s new teammate Jaylen Brown — gathered to recognize community partners making an impact throughout Greater Philadelphia and recipients of the Tyrese Maxey Foundation scholarship program.

“Looking around this room tonight reminds me that making a real impact doesn’t happen because of just one person—it happens because so many people choose to show up,” Maxey said at the Night of Giving.

The foundation awarded $10,000 to a local high school senior who will attend Norfolk State this fall and another $25,000 to 12 PLUS, a Philadelphia-based organization committed to helping students pursue and achieve higher education. The foundation also announced that it raised more than $440,000 during this year’s Friends & Family Weekend, a record for the organization that will support its continued work to strengthen families, empower youth and serve local communities.

“That’s the biggest thing to see it grow year after year,” Maxey said at the foundation’s 1% Skills Camp. “I think that the craziest thing to me is that you see how many people, like on the outside, supporters, sponsors, want to be a part of it, and that’s the biggest thing that we’ve tried to try to create: create an atmosphere where people want to give back, and people want to help and give to the community. And because of that, you know the kids benefit, people benefit, our whole entire community of Philadelphia benefits, and that makes me happy.”

Maxey has long attributed his desire to give back and contribute to his community to his late grandmother, Mildred “Mimi” Maxey. That sense of responsibility and desire to lead with love have been reinforced by his parents, Tyrone and Denyse, who continue to support Maxey on the court, through his foundation and in life.

Maxey has worked diligently to live up to the calling his grandmother placed on him, setting an example for the thousands of children his foundation reaches throughout the Philadelphia area. That responsibility has always stuck with Maxey, but this year’s Friends & Family Weekend carried additional meaning. It was the first since the birth of his daughter, his first child.

Growing older brings new perspective, and for Maxey — who jokingly referred to himself as “old” at 25 — fatherhood has only strengthened his desire to remain involved in the community and set an example rooted in love.

“It definitely changes my perspective. It definitely does, man. It just makes me even want to be more involved, especially going through the experiences of having a three-month-old. I’m just grateful. Grateful to be a father. Grateful to be someone who can protect her and then watch her grow up and just try to be a loving person in her life.”

Fatherhood has given Maxey another reason to serve his community, but for him, that commitment is nothing new.

“I’m always going to do this. This is who I am. My grandmother told me that a long time ago, this is who I needed to be, and this is who I’m going to be. I like doing things like [the skills camp]; this is the fun part of being who I am. I think the biggest thing for us as a foundation, as we try to give back, we try to motivate, we try to do a lot of different things in the community to keep people uplifted, and I think we’ve done that.”

After three years, the crowds at Friends & Family Weekend are larger, the foundation is raising more money and its reach continues to grow. But for Maxey, the purpose behind it remains rooted in something much simpler: taking what was poured into him and passing it on to the next generation.

Now a father himself, that responsibility carries a little more meaning.

MORE: Sixers star Jaylen Brown hangs his hat on being rooted in the community

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