The upcoming week at Pittsburgh is about to be a thrilling ride as Buffalo Bills safety Damar Hamlin will be back at his native to give back to the community. It has been a year and a half since the NFL veteran collapsed on the field. His return has been truly remarkable and wouldn’t this off-season be the perfect chance for him to celebrate at his native? However, Hamlin will not be doing this alone. He wanted a star-studded night at Pittsburgh, so we will witness a host of popular figures on June 7, which also involves Shaquille O’Neal‘s 24-year-old son.

With his non-profit, Chasing M’s Foundation, Hamlin is set to conduct a youth football camp at Sto-Rox High School and a celebrity basketball game at North Allegheny High School next weekend. LSU Tigers alum Shareef O’Neal is one of the stars, who will be taking part in Hamlin’s initiative. 

Chasing M’s foundation shared on their Instagram page a picture of Shareef and added in the captions, “Basketball phenom Shareef O’Neal is confirmed for the Chasing Ms Celebrity Bball game!”. The Los Angeles Lakers legend’s son reposted this on his story, tagging Hamlin with a message, “My brudda let’s do it“. Shareef is not the only NBA-associated star you will be looking forward to at the event.

Veteran 3-point shooter Cam Johnson of the Brooklyn Nets will also be seen in the celebrity game. A few other stars from the NFL would be, James Cook, Dolphins cornerback Siran Neil, Carolina Panthers DB Dane Jackson, etc. The efforts taken by Hamlin to bring all these popular figures together are truly appreciable. All of this is only for his city Pittsburgh. 

Hamlin to create awareness about his on-field collapse

The Bills safety hasn’t been a stranger to donations and charity works. Way before his known works, Hamlin would hand out toys  at Sto-Rox High School. Now, he has only used his growing platform to give back to his society in much larger form — football camps, free CPR training, donating defibrillators, scholarships, and more.

Hamlin reasoned in an interview recently, “Growing up in the city, I always was searching and looking for that positive influence that was from the city of Pittsburgh to do things like this, so I grew up always wanting to try to shape myself into this person and be in this position to be able to give back.”

Alongside the celebrity game, Hamlin will once again host a CPR training camp to ensure the safety of the young athletes and the future stars at Pittsburgh. He said, “If all the right, proper preparation steps and if all the proper things are in place, like having an AED available and having a lot of people around that know CPR and know how to perform if needed, then all kids will be able to chase their dreams safely. That’s my goal.”

The 26-year-old will be working through his foundation to help ‘young people live out their dreams’ in the years to come. He also directed $10 million that was raised for him after on-field collapse towards Chasing M’s foundation and hopes to continue on to make an impact on the coming generation.

Stay tuned for more such updates, and to follow what Shaq’s ex-agent, Leonard Armato had to say about the marketing genius, watch this video: