What began with a penny eventually became a $3,500 relief effort, an NBPA Foundation matching grant and a lasting relationship with Empowering the Masses. Now, that same connection has grown into a $1 million commitment spread across 10 years, with Turner putting $100,000 a year behind a Dallas organization that is trying to tackle food insecurity while helping people build better financial futures.

“The DFW Metroplex has always been home for me,” Turner said. “The opportunities these communities have provided me were integral to my success over the years. So giving back to the Metroplex that shaped me is something I take seriously.” Tammy Johnson, executive director of Empowering the Masses, added: “This generous commitment could provide longevity for the organization, and increase impact with the neighbors that we serve. We’re looking forward to what this partnership will bring.”

Empowering the Masses is not simply a place where people go to pick up groceries. Founded by Johnson in 2018, the South Dallas nonprofit has built its work around two needs that are closely connected: getting food to families now and helping people build better financial futures.

Its CommUNITY Market operates every Saturday from 8 to 10 a.m., giving visitors a client-choice food pantry where they can select groceries rather than simply receiving a prepacked box. But the food distribution is also part of a bigger plan. Staff use those visits to connect people with tuition-free healthcare training, including phlebotomy and Community Health Worker programs.

That approach has grown into a substantial operation. Empowering the Masses reports serving more than 71,800 people across more than 25,300 households and distributing more than 142,000 pounds of food. Its programs have also produced more than 115 healthcare graduates, while more than 75 people have gone through its digital-literacy training. The organization also reports reaching more than 4,120 people through its weekly pantry operation and making 650 home deliveries.

The need around the organization is enormous. Feeding America’s latest Map the Meal Gap data puts the number of food-insecure people across the 25 North Texas counties served by the region’s two major food banks at 1,398,000. More than 506,000 of them are children.

Dallas County alone accounts for 503,440 food-insecure residents, the sixth-highest total of any U.S. county. The average meal in the Dallas-Fort Worth area costs $3.46, compared with $3.17 across Texas.

A person can come through the CommUNITY Market for groceries and leave with information about a path into a healthcare career. The organization offers 12-week Phlebotomy Technician training, a state-approved Community Health Worker track and digital-literacy classes, along with additional training for people looking to advance their healthcare skills.

For Johnson, the problem is personal.

She grew up in South Dallas in poverty, with a mother dealing with chronic health problems, and became a mother herself as a teenager. Years later, while waiting to apply for assistance at a Dallas County Health and Human Services office, she saw a poster asking: “Your grandmother was on public assistance and your mother too, when will the cycle end?”

The question stayed with her. After building a 22-year career in healthcare and vocational training and working as an adjunct professor at Dallas College, Johnson founded Empowering the Masses in 2018. Her goal was to help people move beyond the conditions that kept families dependent on emergency assistance in the first place.

The connection between Turner and the organization began with something much smaller.

On Feb. 15, 2021, after Indiana’s overtime loss to the Chicago Bulls, a fan sent Turner three separate $100 Venmo requests. Turner responded with one cent and the message, “Here’s a penny for your thoughts.”

The exchange spread online, and money started coming into Turner’s account from people who had seen it. Then Winter Storm Uri hit Texas, leaving communities across the state dealing with power outages and disrupted access to food and other essentials.

Turner decided to put the unexpected money toward relief efforts in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. By Feb. 19, he had collected roughly $3,500. The NBPA Foundation later matched his effort through its Player Matching Grant Program, with Empowering the Masses among the organizations receiving support for winter-storm recovery.

What started as a joke between Turner and a stranger became Turner’s first connection with the Dallas nonprofit.

Empowering the Masses is also not working alone. Its food operation is tied to Sharing Life Community Outreach and the North Texas Food Bank, while its healthcare training connects with the Texas Department of State Health Services and the National Healthcareer Association. The organization also lists institutional supporters including United Way of Metropolitan Dallas, Texas Capital Bank Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the Meadows Foundation and the City of Dallas.

The $1 million is being distributed through his W.A.R.M. Foundation as $100,000 annual installments over 10 years. The commitment is intended to support the organization’s broader operating expansion, increase food procurement for the CommUNITY Market and help cover educational materials and examination fees for people in its workforce programs.

The size of the annual commitment is significant for an organization whose latest available Form 990 reported $759,155 in annual operating revenue. Turner’s $100,000 yearly commitment is about 13% of that figure.

For Turner, the donation is also part of a larger belief about what comes with being an NBA player.

“As an NBA player, I understand that my platform can be used for more than basketball,” Turner said. “I want to help bring attention, resources, and opportunities to issues that impact families every day, and food insecurity is one of those issues. No child or family should have to wonder how they are getting their next meal.”

Turner’s giving has not been limited to Dallas. Through W.A.R.M., he has supported causes involving homelessness, hunger, STEM and youth programs, while he and Aysia McCloud launched the Casper Foundation in 2025 to support animal welfare and no-kill shelters.

A $100,000 annual commitment gives Empowering the Masses something a one-time donation cannot: predictability. That kind of recurring support can give the organization more room to plan as its programs continue to grow.

And that brings the story back to where it started.

In 2021, a stranger sent Turner three $100 Venmo requests. He answered with a penny. That penny helped start a relief effort that raised roughly $3,500, drew an NBPA Foundation match and connected Turner with a Dallas nonprofit.

Five years later, that connection is worth $1 million.

For Empowering the Masses, the money arrives as the organization works to put food on tables today while helping people build the skills to create more stable futures tomorrow. For Turner, a penny that once became $3,500 has now become a $1 million commitment to the same Dallas community.