After sweeping the Suns, the Rockets were given a lot of time to adjust. It stands to reason that the atmosphere should be very tense to reach the Western Conference Finals, but the players are very relaxed. The Spurs, who had defended on the road in the regular season, scored only 69 points, and the Rockets were proud to think of that, and with the Big Three there, they felt they were sure to win.

There are three days left before the Western Conference Finals, and the Rockets have no training, and all the players are on vacation to adjust their status. But there are always people who can't be idle, when Hayes and Azubuuk are in the arena to fight PK, received a call from Mutombo, the two met almost all day at the Toyota Center, so Mutombo never called him, Hayes was somewhat surprised.

"Chuck, there's a charity event tonight, would you like to join me in this evening? If you are planning to engage in charity activities in the future, you can see it. You can dress a little cooler and bring your celebrity female companion. Mutombo's hoarse voice came from the other end of the line.

Hayes hesitated slightly. He only wanted to help the Chinese, but he was not very interested in Thailand. And it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon, and he and Azubuk were a little tired, and they really didn't bother to go home and change their clothes before coming to this unclear event.

"I know you're tired from playing basketball and don't want to go home and change your clothes. But I really hope you don't miss out on this meaningful event. If you don't experience it a few times, it's hard to organize a charity party, don't think you're willing to spend money, it takes experience, if you really have the heart to engage in charity, you won't regret coming here, hear? Mutombo said in the tone of educating the younger generation.

"Okay, I'll go." Hayes respected "Uncle Mu" very much and did not dare to refuse again. I went to the security room and asked for a pen and paper, and asked, "Where do we meet?" ”

"At half past six, the ...... of 11th Street"

Hayes hastily jotted down the address, hung up the phone, and left the Toyota Center with Azubuuk.

This isn't the first time Hayes has participated in a charity event. Back in February, he participated in the annual Rocket Charity Gala at the Toyota Center. The theme of the charity dinner was to donate to the construction of a children's treatment center for Rocket's partner hospital, the largest Herman Memorial Hospital in Houston, which will be named after "Rocket."

The evening was a great success. The players packed up early and brought their wives and girlfriends to the scene. They greeted and chatted with guests in the VIP booths, and chatted with each other about easy topics such as clothing.

Maddie and Battier hosted the party, and Rocket owner Alexander gave a welcome speech, and then the auction began. The items participating in the auction are all from a wide range of sources, including NBA star jerseys, sneakers, and so on. The most eye-catching thing is the jerseys of Yao Ming and Maddie. Among them, there is a set of Yao Ming's jerseys, which are: national team jerseys, first-year jerseys, current jerseys and All-Star Game jerseys. The four-piece set was sold by a fan for $10,000. Maddie's popularity is not bad, and a chance to have dinner with him at Maddie's house also fetched 12,000.

The real ** of the party came from the Rockets' runway show. Rocket players, as well as a team of models consisting of their wives and girlfriends, performed live for the guests. This is a new program of this year's charity gala, and it turns out that it is also the most brilliant program, when the whole Rockets team went into battle collectively and walked on the catwalk, the atmosphere reached **, and a lot of film was murdered by reporters at the scene.

The first to appear on the stage of the wife group performance, they are all fashionably dressed and have a decent catwalk. Although I had trained before, I was still a little embarrassed. Then, each of the Rockets players appeared with their wives or girlfriends in hand. Hayes was out of the limelight in this session, as he was joined by Taylor Swift on the catwalk. This was also evidenced by the warmest applause from the audience. The second person who received the most applause was Yao Ming, Ye Li was not there that night, and Yao Ming walked the catwalk with the mascot "Rocket Bear...... Today, Taylor Swift is not in Houston. Hayes had no choice but to go to the dinner party on his own. Gao Tongxuan may be free, but he doesn't want to call her along. On the one hand, there are more and more advertising endorsement jobs, and Gao Tongxuan is in contact, and he wants her to take a break. In addition, he is afraid of scandals about participating in this kind of event.

Hayes changed into a suit and met with Mutombo on time. The two of them were of outstanding height, and when they walked into the venue, Hayes noticed that the whole venue was strangely arranged, not at all like a banquet hall, which Mutombo said was like in Thailand. Although the disaster has passed two years since the disaster, human factors such as [***] and war have hindered the reconstruction work, and there have also been cases of contractors absconding with money, which has led to the postponement of several non-political disaster relief projects and housing reconstruction.

In Indonesia's Aceh province, where more than 160,000 people were killed, tens of thousands of people are still living in makeshift shelters. So, there was this dinner.

There are monkey and parrot performances in the venue, and there is also a mini Muay Thai stage in the center of the venue, where two fighters are performing hemp rope Muay Thai.

Thai beauties wear these colorful national costumes, fold their hands and bow deeply to greet each guest. Some people sit on Thai-style boats and bring fresh Thai fruits to everyone. When Hayes saw a Thai fruit on his plate, he turned his head and laughed. Because the fruit looks so peculiar that it looks like poop. An embarrassed Mutombo punched him in the back before he stopped laughing.

Every drink on the cocktail table is decorated with honeydew melons cut into baby elephants and hearts.

This is not the same as the grand dinner party that Hayes imagined, although there are many businessmen, dignitaries and celebrities among the guests, the people are not so flamboyant and exaggerated.

The master of ceremonies told everyone that the event is about to start, please take a seat and enjoy the dinner first. Hayes rarely attends high-class banquets, and from the way he began to think about what kind of good food he could taste. As a result, after sitting for 10 minutes, there was still no food on the table, and when I looked closely, I saw that the guests had already lined up in a long line to pick up their own food at the long tables on both sides.

It's so boring. A high-end banquet is also a buffet? When everyone had almost chosen, Hayes also went over with Mutombo to take a look. The food at the dinner was nothing short of tragic for him, a meatless man, because on the long table, there was nothing but simple vegetable salad, Thai curry and white rice. It seems that almost all the Americans who come are symbolic of surnames and eat a small bite.

Hayes couldn't help but ask, "Deacon Bay, the food served here is too simple, isn't it?" Is this how charity works? Won't the guests be angry? ”

Mutombo laughed: "Do you see that the people around you are angry? This is also the meaning of charity, everyone present, eat one less meal, there will be no change in life at all, save every penny to help people in need, but can change the lives of many people. ”

Hayes smiled, no more complaints. He has a lot to learn from Mutombo. In his opinion, Mutombo is not only a basketball player, but also a great man. Coming from the small impoverished African country of Zaire (later renamed Congo), he witnessed poverty and disease since childhood, and when he was admitted to Georgetown University in the United States at the age of 17, he aspired to become a doctor, hoping to return to his hometown to treat diseases and save people.

In 1998, Mutombo's mother died on the floor of her home due to poor medical conditions at the local hospital. So Mutombo set out to build a hospital for his hometown. In 2006, he finally got his dream of building a large 300-bed hospital near the capital, Kinshasa. The hospital, which cost $29 million and was donated $15 million by Mutombo, is named after Mutombo's mother.

Even for an NBA star, that goal is too ambitious. But Mutombo did it, and he not only took most of his own income to build the hospital, but also raised a lot of money, so he was met with a lot of disdain.

To raise funds, Mutombo juggles between celebrities, business elites and political elites, and his low, hoarse voice is surprisingly persuasive in these occasions. At heart, however, Mutombo remains an outspoken African, no different from when he came to Georgetown from his hometown. There, Mutombo studied languages and diplomacy and spoke French, Portuguese, Spanish and several local African dialects in addition to English.

The reason why he was reluctant to retire was not only because of his love for basketball, but also because he wanted to raise more money for the hospital.

When the auction began, it wasn't as hot as Hayes had imagined, and the auction wasn't expensive.

Just ball tickets, concert tickets, air tickets, decorations, and so on...... The guests all quietly held up their signs, buying things that were of little value to ordinary people at high prices one after another, and everyone was very low-key, with no intention of showing off at all. And every thing they buy may mean the rebuilding of an elementary school or the rebirth of a family, but they don't even want their names to be mentioned.

The dinner lasted until 11 o'clock, and surprisingly, no one left early, and everything went in a simple but orderly manner.

Mutombo generously paid $10,000 for a baseball ticket. Not to be outdone, Hayes made a fortune from advertising, and spent $20,000 on a sculpture by an unknown street artist.

"Chuck, you're good." When the host announced the success of Hayes' auction, Mutombo laughed.

"I seem to have realized something, thank you for bringing me here." Hayes laughed.

"You're already a good philanthropist." Mutombo said.

"I'm still far from it, just a little bit of effort." Hayes laughed. Hearing Mutombo's praise, he suddenly felt fulfilled in his heart.

Mutombo took Hayes by the shoulders and said earnestly in his hoarse voice, "No, you already are." Because you have a heart. Even if you don't have money, as long as you have a heart, you are a philanthropist. There are a lot of people who need help, and not everyone needs help financially. Maybe they just need you to give them a strong hug when they're feeling sad, maybe they just need you to be quiet and listen when they're confused, or maybe just by giving a little of your precious time, you can save a lot of people. Therefore, charity is not just something that rich people should do, anyone, whether strong or weak, as long as they have a kind heart, can help the people around them in many ways. ”

If you have a kind heart, you are a philanthropist!

Mutombo's words evoked memories of Hayes's past life. During some large-scale charity activities, some celebrities often arrive late to play big names, and leave early after lip-syncing. Do they have a heart? The only thing they care about is how big the press release will be the next day, whether the headline will be brilliant enough, whether the photos taken by the reporter will be photogenic, whether the news will be positive, and whether the hype will be achieved after the event...... Unfortunately, there are many rich people whose lives are empty, because they have not yet had time to learn how to love others, but they go to charity events with great grandeur. They may not know who the donations will end up with, let alone what the people in need really need, the only thing they care about is exposure, it is reputation.

If it is more serious, some wealthy businessmen auction expensive luxury goods, in order to show off in front of others, in order to give their own business reputation, in order to put gold on their faces, in order to better avoid taxes, and even many companies force employees to donate, how many ordinary people really have a heart?

Thankfully, those rich people are in the minority.

This event really benefited Hayes a lot. Next year, when he has more funds, it's time to put it into practice.

(To be continued)