New Orleans Pelicans guard Jrue Holiday and his wife, Lauren, announced they will use his remaining game checks for this season to launch the Jrue and Lauren Holiday Social Justice Impact Fund, which is designed to aid communities in New Orleans, Indianapolis and the Los Angeles area. Jrue Holiday’s game checks are worth up to $5.3 million. 

“Honestly when it came down to it, it was me and my wife talking about what we could do to kind of further this movement and progression and being able to help out our community and just being able to help,” Jrue Holiday told ESPN on Wednesday, July 15.

“We were just kind of sitting in the house, in the bed, thinking about it, and my wife said, ‘I think you should do this and you should do the rest of your salary.’ That’s a great idea. Because we want to make an impact. God has blessed us with so much. We know a couple of things that are important are time and money, and right now, we have both. To be able to give away our money to help further this movement and Black-owned businesses that have taken a hit in COVID-19, to us, it felt like the perfect time and opportunity.”

The majority of the money will be dedicated to nonprofits, Black-owned businesses and citywide initiatives that seek to bring about equitable outcomes for Black and Brown communities in New Orleans (up to $1.5 million), Los Angeles and Compton, Calif. (up to $1.5 million), and Indianapolis (up to $1 million). Another $1 million will go to Black-owned businesses in more than 10 other cities, while $500,000 will go to institutions of higher learning, including historically Black colleges and universities.

Jrue Holiday, a Los Angeles native, played collegiately for two seasons at UCLA and has been a member of the Pelicans for the past seven seasons. His wife Lauren, a former standout player for the United States women’s national soccer team, is from Indianapolis, and Jrue’s brothers, Justin and Aaron, play for the Indiana Pacers.