MSU Basketball Alumnus Davis Smith Holds Third Annual School Supplies Drive

Davis Smith Holds Third Annual School Supplies Drive

LANSING, Mich. (WLNS) – Davis Smith graduated from Michigan State this spring, but is staying involved and giving back to the Lansing and East Lansing communities. He’s holding his third annual school supply drive next Thursday at the Clara Bell Smith Center.

The fundraiser will take place from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. Everyone is welcome to pick up free school supplies.

“Kids can grab a backpack and fill it with pencils, pencil cases, whatever they need for the school year,” Smith said. “(There’ll be) basketballs and some MSU stuff, so (we) just want to make it bigger every year and just give people a chance to get something they can be proud of.”

Smith played basketball at Michigan State for the past four years and started the drive his junior year. He said last year’s drive served nearly 200 people and that he’s grateful for the platform his basketball career at MSU gave him to do things like this.

“Spartans are everywhere,” he said. “We have such a great alumni and a great base that I run into people every day who are Spartans. They care so much about Lansing. They care so much about East Lansing. So when I can talk to them outside of Michigan, meet people in Georgia, Chicago, meet Spartans everywhere, it means a lot to know that we’re one big family. The more I can help the family that we have back home, the bigger the Spartan community becomes.”

This year, Smith is also teaming up to raise money for Lansing’s City Rescue Mission, hoping to give Spartans around the world another way to contribute.

“There were a lot of people who couldn’t come to the event, so I just gave them a way to help, even though they were far away, from all over the country,” he said.

Smith is the son of MSU standout Steve Smith, whose extensive philanthropic work in East Lansing included a $2.5 million donation that helped build the Clara Bell Smith Center, which provides academic support to MSU student-athletes, in 1997. Davis said his father was a major influence on his desire to give back to the MSU community in his own way.

“It’s something that my dad has preached in our family, about giving back, ever since I can remember. So just seeing people smile and be happy, not just because of points and assists, but because they’re making a difference, I think that’s something that’s always meant a lot to me.”