Steph and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. Will Start Renovating School Libraries In 2025

Steph and Ayesha Curry's Eat. Learn. Play. announces plans to renovate elementary school libraries in 2025.

Stephen and Ayesha Curry’s Eat. Learn. Play. program is going full steam ahead into the new year with a new initiative to renovate elementary school libraries and parks.

Starting in 2025 with Madison Park Academy, Eat. Learn. Play. will remodel the school’s library and park, with plans to expand the initiative to other elementary schools across the Oakland Unified School District, Andscape reports. This new effort aligns with the Curry family’s mission to enhance the lives of children and families in Oakland by providing kids in need with access to nutritious meals, resources for learning and reading, and safe, welcoming spaces for physical activity.

“Just trying to bring joy to the kids in a lot of different ways, not only with the resources that they get, the take homes that they get, the books that they get, but just for them to have just a fun oasis for however long they get to spend going to all the different stations and just for them to get immersed in it and be present,” Steph said during the 12th annual “Christmas with the Currys” event.

Ayesha shared how much she and her husband love giving back through Eat. Learn. Play. and how meaningful it is to see the impact of their work by sharing an exchange she had with a young girl from Madison Park Academy during the holiday event.

“I was like, ‘yes.’ And she was like, ‘I ate your meals at my soccer program,’ ” Ayesha shared. “And I was like, ‘Oh.’ She’s like, ‘I really like the burritos.’ And just the fact that she had the awareness of where the food was coming from and just the thought to be a kid and be like, ‘Hey, thank you,’ … one, it’s a very heartwarming, appreciated. But also, I hate the thought of a child having to have that wherewithal or that knowledge of the fact that they needed to get a meal to go to soccer. But we do encounter that all the time…”

Based on the feedback the Currys receive from the Oakland community, including from children, parents, and school alumni and staff, Ayesha notes how the exchanges “add fuel to my fire of wanting to do more.”

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The holiday event brought joy to 200 Oakland students at Madison Park Academy. It offered activities like painting, playing in a petting zoo and bounce house, enjoying healthy and delicious food, and dancing alongside the Warriors Girls and DJ D-Sharp. This marks the 12th year the NBA champion and his wife have hosted the event for the city of Oakland. During this year’s celebration, they announced plans to renovate Madison Park Academy’s library and park to expand similar renovations to other schools.

The Currys launched Eat. Learn. Play. in 2019, and in the five years since then, the NBA star has seen the fruits of his labor.

“Then for the results to kind of show up — with all the places that we’ve been able to refurbish, the goals even for next year, the amount of schools we’ve been able to touch, the amount of books we’ve been able to put in kids’ hands, the amount of meals that’ve been able to go out the door — all of it is truly powerful. And you feel the love from people who have been touched by it,” Steph said.

This holiday season, Eat. Learn. Play has been delivering over $2 million in resources and support to students and families. Throughout December, Oakland Unified School District students and their families participated in holiday events and surprise pop-up book fairs, where the organization and its partners distributed books and gifts.

Additionally, the Safeway Foundation contributed $200,000 and provided 1,000 Safeway gift cards to Oakland families in need. For the fifth year in a row, Eat. Learn. Play. gave a holiday gift to all 18,000 elementary school students in Oakland.