In partnership with Team Hope NOLA, NOPD officers took on the New Orleans Fire Department for a third time during the ESSENCE festival charity celebrity basketball game today at Xavier University Convocation Center.
Essence Festival has partnered with Team Hope NOLA, a foundation started by New Orleans own Master P, to help raise money to benefit New Orleans youth through sports and community driven events. The one-of-a-kind celebrity basketball game was one event that was a part of the Essence “Day of Service” activation.
WATCH: NOPD Joins Team Hope NOLA, ESSENCE festival in Celebrity Basketball Fundraiser
Team NOPD included:
Terry Bean- Training Academy
Louis Johnson- Third District
Edwin Cooper- First District
Darius Henry- Seventh District
Daylon Pazon- Special Operations Division
Melvin McCollum- Fifth District
Harold Nunnery- Sixth District
Jerome Newsome Jr- Third District
Yaron Pierre- Fifth District
Funds raised from tickets sales will benefit a scholarship fund developed by Essence and Team Hope NOLA to benefit kids in New Orleans.
Following the first responders game, a lineup of celebrities and professional athletes competed against each other in a celebrity basketball game. The New Orleans Police Department has played against NOFD in the inaugural First Responders Holiday Classic basketball tournament at the New Orleans Pelicans.