Shaquille O’Neal is perhaps one of the most popular basketball players of all time. The athlete is not just famous because of how well he played the game but also because of how generous he is!
Over the years, there have been multiple stories that have come out that highlight just how generous Shaq is. He is often seen paying bills for other people at restaurants as well as leaving waitstaff with very generous tips.
The Collins Kids is a popular Instagram account for a family with nine siblings. It is no secret that Shaq is friends with the family and often meets them to spend time with them.
The Instagram account is run by Karissa, the young mother of 9 children, and has amassed over 350k followers. Shaq had been communicating with the family over the Instagram account. And at the beginning of this year, he even paid the young family a visit.
During his first visit with them, he spent quality time with the children and doted on them. Karissa wrote in a post she made later about the visit, “He came in and played “Watch ya mouth” with the kids, loved on them, encouraged them, entertained them, took pics with them, gave them gifts, encouraged us as parents, and just showed us so much love.”
And while even this sweet interaction was enough for the family, the legendary athlete had something else in mind. A few months after the initial meeting, he reached out again and surprised the family with dinner. “Last night we had a surprise visit from Shaq. He took us to dinner as a family at babes chicken. It was so much fun to just hang out and eat dinner with him.”
While again, this seemed to make the family plenty happy, the NBA player had other plans. The next day, he took the family to the Mercedes dealership and order a custom 15-passenger van for them that they are due to receive in mid-July.
The family was shocked at his generosity and the kids were delighted and couldn’t stop hugging their hero.
And that wasn’t all Shaq did! The family went out to dinner with the NBA legend again. They said during the dinner, he spread happiness all around.
“He then took us to dinner at rainforest café where he paid for another [table’s] entire meal not knowing that they were from out of state and here on missions. And then he tipped our waitress $1000 after her car broke down today,” Karissa said.
During their second dinner together, Shaq found out that the father of nine was having issues with his truck. The air conditioning and heating hadn’t been working properly for a while.
Immediately, Shaq knew what he wanted to do. He took the family to the Ford dealership and bought the dad a new truck!
The family couldn’t feel more blessed! Apart from his generous gifts, Shaquille O’Neal also spent quality time with them which they were more than grateful for.
Karissa wrote, “He also spent time encouraging us and loving on our children and speaking life into our family.”
Shaquille O’Neal is clearly a wonderful human being. Not everyone with his amount of wealth is as generous with it.
Share Shaq’s generous acts with others to inspire them to do the same!