<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">NEW YORK, Feb. 20 -- Lakers forward Karl Malone is the recipient of the NBA Community Assist Award for the month of January. During his 19 seasons in the NBA, Malone has proven himself to be one of the NBA's most community-minded players. This season, Malone started 2004 off with some unexpected surprises for the children of Heart of Los Angeles Youth (HOLA). Malone and Clear Channel Motorsports invited a group of children from HOLA to attend the Monster Truck Jam in Anaheim on Saturday, Jan. 10. The kids and their chaperones arrived at Edison Field where they met a Lakers representative and each guest received a Lakers duffel bag filled with Lakers merchandise. The group believed that the Lakers provided them with the tickets, unaware of who the real donor was or who they were about to meet. The group then was escorted into a room and were stunned when Karl Malone, the owner of the Power Forward Monster Truck Race Team competing that night, walked across the room to shake their hands. Malone treated the kids to dinner and gave each child the opportunity to purchase up to $100 worth of souvenirs. Malone's generosity continued a few days later when he sponsored a shopping spree for 25 middle school children who are part of HOLA's L.A. Bridges program. Again, the children had no idea about the special field trip in which they were participating. </div> Read the rest of the article here.
