Fever’s latest ‘build’ goes beyond basketball at Gainbridge Fieldhouse
Fever players, staff, and executives teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to begin building a home for a local mother and her son — reinforcing the franchise’s commitment to community impact.
For the past three weeks, it’s been go, go, go for the Indiana Fever front office.
A new Collective Bargaining Agreement was reached, and by the start of April, an expansion draft for two new franchises was completed.
Then came free agency.
Then the WNBA Draft.
On Thursday, the front office was joined by the coaching staff, All-Star guard Caitlin Clark, and other members of Pacers Sports & Entertainment for a different kind of build.
This one was special — impacting the lives of one Indianapolis family for years to come.
The Fever teamed up with Habitat for Humanity to begin a months-long project, building a three-bedroom, two-bath home from the ground up for a single mother, Paris, and her son, Mason.
“Homeownership will mean the world to me because it represents something my mother always wanted for our family. Growing up in a single parent household, she did everything she could with the resources she had,” Paris said. “Now, as a single mother myself, I would love the opportunity to give me and my son stability — somewhere to call home for more than two to three years at a time.”
Normally, a hardwood basketball court covers the event level at Gainbridge Fieldhouse. But on this day, it was concrete — along with piles of lumber throughout the space. Team employees split into groups, rolling up their sleeves to hammer nails and assemble framing that will eventually become Paris’ home.
“Congrats Paris! Love, the Fever!” Caitlin Clark wrote on one of the wooden beats.
“Welcome home Paris and Mason,” head coach Stephanie White added.
After instructions were given, Fever GM and COO Amber Cox turned to the group and offered one lighthearted reminder: “Thanks so much for being here today. I see Caitlin standing behind me — please keep the hammers and nails out of her hands. The number one word for this year is health. We’re going to stay healthy heading into the season.”
Clark swung a hammer once — just a single nail — and that was enough.
Training camp starts on Sunday.
“We’ve always been about giving back and staying connected to our community,” Cox said. “The really wonderful thing is that as we grow, we can do bigger and better things.
“So it’s really cool to be able to team up with Habitat, to be able to, work alongside our fans, all of our employees, players. Everybody’s gonna touch this over the course of the season. To be able to do this, for this deserving family, means a lot and we hope it’s something that we can make an annual tradition.”
The event, supported by State Farm, is part of the Fever Fund, which focuses on uplifting families and empowering girls and women across Indiana. Bailey Johnson, senior community engagement manager at Pacers Sports & Entertainment, helped organize the effort.
“We’re in our 39th year doing our work, carrying out our mission of building homes, communities, and hope,” said Jim Morris, CEO and President of Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity. “You really represent bringing that hope into this space.
“We should be kind of exhausted as a community coming off the Final Four, but that Hoosier hospitality spirit is really welcome and really on display in what we’re doing.”
Go behind the scenes at the build, and hear from White, Cox, and Morris in the video below:
The project will continue throughout the summer, with hopes of completion this fall — potentially in October.
“I know it’s big business now,” White said of the WNBA, “but in our hearts, it’s grassroots. It’s about community, it’s about giving back and it’s about impacting on a bigger stage.”
She then pointed to former WNBA players now within the organization — including Tamika Catchings, Tully Bevilaqua, Briann January, and Karima Christmas-Kelly — who had participated in similar builds during their playing careers.
White thanked staff members who dedicated time during the workday to help, then turned to Paris with a message.
“It’s important,” White said. “It’s at the heart of who we are as an organization. It’s at the heart of who we are as the WNBA and in the bigger picture, being able to impact beyond basketball is really important.”
Sporting events often serve as an outlet — a place to set aside the stresses of everyday life and come together in support of a team.
On this day, it was the Pacers Sports & Entertainment family coming together to make sure Paris got a win.
“We are in the business of basketball,” Cox said. “We want to win, we want to hang banners. But what we do impacts so many people beyond that. We want to inspire and we want to create positive change.
“That’s always been at the heart of the WNBA, of the Indiana Fever, and of this organization and that really starts with our ownership — and the Simon family.
“It’s a great feeling that we get to be involved in it.”
Photos
(And more, courtesy of Pacers Sports & Entertainment)
