Shaquille O’Neal donates $20,000 to support Lafayette High

NBA superstar and LSU legend Shaquille “Shaq” O’Neal gave Lafayette High School a "jump start" in its fundraising goal to remodel its weight room with a $20,000 donation.

After making the announcement, O’Neal sent Lafayette High head football coach Rob Pool a video with words of encouragement.

“Hello, Mighty Lion boosters of Lafayette, “O’Neal said in the video. “I wanna wish you well with your fundraiser, but I may have a surprise for you. I’ll let you know.

"All you Lafayette High guys, students, work hard. You can be whatever you want to be.”

The donation was made through the South Louisiana Giving Day Event, a 24-hour online fundraising event for nonprofit organizations intended to inspire the community to give back. As part of the event, LHS was trying to raise $42,000 to remodel its weight room. The Lafayette Parish School System gave the school a $21,000 matching donation through the event, and O'Neal contributed to the challenge with his $20,000 donation.

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As of 6:30 p.m. Thursday, LHS had raised more than $43,000.

“Shaq gave us a jump start in our fundraising efforts,” said Pool. “When I got here two years ago, there were a lot of things I wanted to fix. I want to give the students a first-class experience, but remodeling the weight room was at the bottom of the list because of the renovation cost. Shaq and our school board are making this a realistic goal for us.”

Tax-deductable donations to LHS can be made online at SouthLouisianaGivingDay.org/LafayetteHighSchool until midnight Thursday.

South Louisiana Giving Day is a project of Community Foundation of Acadiana.