Between the bevy of sponsored events – T-Mobile Rookie Challenge, GEICO H.O.R.S.E., Haier Shooting Stars, Taco Bell Skills Challenge, Foot-Locker 3-point contest, and Sprite Slam Dunk (wow, that was exhausting to type out) – and great parties, the NBA, its players and some of its business partners are once again involved in a number of community-oriented events leading up to the League’s All-Star game weekend.

The NBA Cares Community Caravan began in Philadelphia in ’01 “as a way to involve current and former players in efforts to help those in each year’s host city.”

Here is a sampling of events taking place from Feb. 10 – 14.

• NBA/NWBA Wheelchair Meet & Greet, Skills Clinic and All-Star Game
• Sanofi-Pasteur “Vaccines for Teens” Event
• NBA FIT All-Star Youth Celebration – nine simultaneous fitness clinics for more than 1,000 local boys and girls
• NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service – variety of service projects throughout North Texas featuring More than 1,500 members of the NBA family
• T-Mobile Rookie Challenge and Youth Jam – host 3,500 local middle school students for the Rookie-Sophomore Game
• Basketball Skills Clinic for Special Olympics Athletes
• NBA D-League All-Star Youth Basketball Clinic
• Hosting five children from the Make-A-Wish Foundation and their families with unforgettable experiences throughout NBA All-Star 2010

Today is the NBA Cares All-Star Day of Service and from 1 to 4 p.m., participants will help refurbish five houses, make repairs at Burnet Elementary School in northwest Dallas and dedicate the school’s reading and learning center, and build a playground in Arlington.

About NBA Cares
NBA Cares is the league’s social responsibility initiative that builds on the NBA’s long tradition of addressing important social issues in the United States and around the world. Through this umbrella program, the NBA, its teams and players have donated more than $115 million to charity, provided more than one million hours of hands-on service to communities around the world, and created more than 440 places where kids and families can live, learn or play. NBA Cares works with internationally recognized youth-serving programs that support education, youth and family development, and health-related causes, including: KaBOOM!, Special Olympics, Boys and Girls Clubs of America, UNICEF, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, and the Global Business Coalition on HIV/AIDS, Malaria and Tuberculosis.