Every week, Vogue will be spotlighting the medical workers, teachers, and Good Samaritans who are giving back to those in need during the coronavirus crisis.
As soon as Ayesha and Stephen Curry got on the phone with Vogue yesterday, they had to hit pause. Their kids needed their attention, and Ayesha asked for a minute to “get them situated.” Like millions of Americans, basketball’s first family has been adjusting to a new, quarantined reality at home as a global pandemic continues to spread at an alarming rate.
The Currys live in Atherton, California, where Stephen plays for the Golden Gate Warriors, and they have three young kids (a one-year-old boy, and two girls, ages seven and four). Philanthropy has always been central to the Currys’ life—they founded Eat. Learn. Play. in 2019—and now the couple has partnered with their local California school district and food bank in order to help feed children during the coronavirus crisis.
Two and a half weeks ago, they launched a fundraiser on Facebook called Feeding America to provide daily meals for kids who are out of school and depend on that meal every single day. Feeding America has since raised more than $160,000.
On top of that, the Currys donated 1 million meals to the Oakland Unified School District and have been working to increase those numbers and work virtually with volunteers on the ground to distribute the resources to families in need. In the last 10 days, they’ve also partnered with José Andrés’s World Central Kitchen initiative and have been posting inspirational messages, including hosting a spiritual music event and an interview with the White House’s coronavirus expert Dr. Anthony Fauci, both via Instagram Live.
Ayesha and Stephen say that they are committed to continuing their mission however the virus progresses. In the interview below, the Currys share how they’ve been adjusting to the new normal while spreading as much hope as possible.
Tell me a bit about what the response has been like over the last week since you made the announcement about helping the Oakland Unified School District through local food banks. Do you have any indication of how many children you’ve been able to feed so far?
Ayesha Curry: It’s been overwhelming. I think people have been super responsive, but the crazy thing about it, as you know, is that every 24 hours the situation changes, and you need more people on the ground and you need more help and the demographic of people that needs help keeps widening. We’ve been able to grow with the change and the curve and so that’s been good. But it’s been insane the past week and a half or so. It’s only been 13 days and so much has happened, but the Oakland Unified School District has been amazing working with us; they’ve been incredible.
I think it just goes to show that people are really wanting to help and they want to make change, but sometimes people just don’t have the means to do so, and so we’ve been able to help on that end. We’ve been able to provide means and to raise awareness while they’ve really been on the ground running things and making sure that the kids and families are taken care of. We’ve been working with Alameda County Food Bank and the school district, and now we’ve started to work with World Central Kitchen, which is José Andrés’s initiative. That’s really what this is all about: joining forces to amplify the cause.
In the beginning, we started out feeding about 4,000 families on that first Monday we launched the program and now we’re close to more than 23,000 families. That’s just within the past two weeks, so I think that just goes to show how quickly we’ve been able to mobilize and keep up with the needs. It’s growing every day.
Stephen Curry: We really tried, via social media, to get that awareness out pretty early, knowing how things were going to progress in terms of the spread of coronavirus. The need for food was only going to grow, and I think our messaging really resonated with people in terms of shining a light on the things that you might take for granted on a daily basis. People have really stepped up in a lot of ways in a lot of different communities.
How did the Instagram Live interview with Dr. Fauci come to fruition and why were you eager to speak with him on a public platform?
SC: Ayesha and I started to watch the White House press briefings and we were trying to find as much factual information about what’s been happening…
AC: And of course, you really get no facts…
SC: I was very interested in Dr. Fauci’s experience and the way that he has been able to articulate what was actually happening. So we had a mutual connection through my agency and I decided to reach out because I wanted to get his messaging and get those facts and awareness to a younger demographic. There’s a definite need for that, so Dr. Fauci and his team responded immediately to the idea. I know he’s been on other outlets and mainstream—I call it for the culture—types of opportunities where he understands the importance of being able to get that message to the young people. It’s about speaking directly to those that might not be paying attention to the news or might not be changing their lifestyle at all or feel like they’re not a part of the responsibility of stopping the spread and flattening the curve.
I was kind of nervous because I was outside of my element asking health questions to a health expert, but it was cool to have participation from my followers and see people wanting to send in questions and get the answers that they were looking for and deserve. It was very productive and you know, what he said in that chat is still permeating. I also think we’re going to be able to go back to the world and change it with all of this new information.
I told Ayesha earlier you know things change or are changing every day, and there is still a lot of researching and learning in the medical community, but that conversation at least felt like a good start. I’m not sure if we will have more talks like this one on Instagram Live—we’ll see how it goes from here—but it’s really about getting as much factual information out as possible and how we can continue to do that because I think we really need to.
What has family life been like for you at home during quarantine? How are you scheduling your day with the kids?
AC: Our daughter has to check in with her class via Zoom on and off all day. We’re just trying to stay on top of everything. It’s definitely been interesting and there are definitely peaks and valleys, but more peaks I’d say. Mainly because we’re getting more time together with our kids. I think one great thing to bring up is that there is free access to virtual learning programs. I know Stanford has one now for K-12 and anyone that needs material outside what they have at home can go there and find free resources.
Are there any initiatives that you’ve seen circulating online that have inspired you?
SC: We’ve been following all of it as it comes in and we are just really inspired in general by everybody leaning on one another through social media and through all of these different efforts. I think everyone is trying to understand what the new normal is because there’s no playbook for this crisis. We are all adjusting on the fly. We are very blessed to be home with our family and stay productive with our businesses and find ways to continue to try and make an impact, but there are obviously people in the world who are really struggling right now and need as much inspiration as possible.
One of my favorite things that I’ve seen is DJ D-Nice and his DJ sets called Club Quarantine. Every day he’s playing good music and having fun and it’s a good distraction. A lot of people are tuned in and are just trying to have some fun, which is a hard thing to find right now. That’s a light example, but in terms of everyone finding a way to connect, I think this is only going to continue to make people better and stronger.
AC: We were talking to a friend this morning and he said, “It’s not social distancing, it’s physical distancing,” because everyone is really coming together now more than ever, virtually, which has been really cool to see.
What personal message do you want to share with those students who are out of school and struggling at the moment?
AC: That everything is going to be okay. I’ve been doing a little bit of research and have seen professors sending out messages and teachers sending out messages explaining that we should all be mindful that kids should not stress themselves out over the minutiae and the monotony of the schoolwork they are missing out on. We need to just make sure that they’re reading as much as they can and when these kids do have a moment to learn something, they should take it all in but not stress out.
I feel like depression could end up being a really bigger, nastier beast through all of this, especially with our youth, and so I think it’s important for them to keep that sense of mindfulness and peace and take it one day at a time. My heart breaks just thinking about all of the college students who are right there at the finish line or students who needed to take their college entrance exams and their SATs and they’re not able to do that. It’s so unfortunate, but obviously when this is all said and done they’ll be able to do that, so I would just tell them to be in the moment and not stress out and just know that everything is going to be okay, eventually.