The 2026 FIBA World Cup break gave Sophie Cunningham and her Indiana Fever teammates a chance to get involved in some community work. On Monday, Sept. 14, the Fever team, featuring players who didn’t participate in the World Cup, showed appreciation for community work that Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity has shown in the city lately.
On April 16, the Fever team and Greater Indy Habitat for Humanity met at the Gainbridge Fieldhouse arena to tip off the construction of a home for a local mother and her child. Months later, on Monday, the Fever social media posted a picture and a video of the Fever players who had reached the venue to surprise the mother.
“The team showed our appreciation to our friends and volunteers at Habitat for Humanity, where we are working together to build a new home for a local mother and her son,” the post from the Fever read.
The Fever player posed for a picture with the mother on the porch. The video showed players distributing sweets, posing for pictures and signing T-shirts for the local fans.
According to the report that the Indiana Fever had provided in April, the team had organized the event in April, and the Fever staff and volunteers had assembled the interior and exterior walls inside the Fieldhouse. It was later incorporated into the home that was built for the local mother.
The home was sponsored by State Farm and is located in Marion County’s Devon Creek Community. The volunteer team from the Indiana Fever helped build the house with three bedrooms and two bathrooms.
The Fever had announced that it was an initiative by the team to reach deeper into communities and uplift women and girls through Fever Fund. It also appealed to fans to buy tickets, which would eventually be be helping in accelerating the team’s community initiative.
Sophie Cunningham herself is a big believer in giving back to the community. From her very early days, she was impacted by the struggles and resilience of the families she came across. While she was in high school, she visited Ronald McDonald House in Chicago. Since then, she has been helping them raise money.
Her most recent donation started as a joke. Last season, Cunningham started a GoFundMe to crowdsource funds for the fines after receiving multiple fines from the league, which included fines for her comments on her podcast.
She has hinted that the money will either go to charity or she would buy a yacht for herself. The campaign eventually received over $10 K in donations from 171 members. Rather than buying a yacht for herself, Cunningham donated the money.
“A yacht would be nice, but whatever we raise here will be going directly to Ronald McDonald House Charities,” she later said. “I’ll take care of my own fines. Y’all are the best.”
Cunningham has excelled tremendously both on and off the basketball court since arriving in Indiana. She has been deeply involved in community service, and now, as a member of the Indiana Fever, her social media reach has grown exponentially. She is now the second-most followed player on Instagram, right behind Angel Reese and ahead of her superstar teammate Caitlin Clark.
Cunningham and the Indiana Fever are currently ranked 5th in the league this season with a 26-14 record and have qualified for the playoffs. If the playoffs started today, the Fever would compete against Angel Reese’s Atlanta Dream in the first round.
They still have a chance to move up on the table. The Fever are tied with the Dream in win-loss record, and just one win behind the Las Vegas Aces. However, they also have arguably the toughest schedule of all the playoff teams. They will play one game each against the Portland Fire & the Washington Mystics, and their last two games against the No. 1-ranked Minnesota.