Traffic delays as long as three hours on the Eisenhower Expressway, two hours on the Kennedy Expressway, plane delays and a snow storm that dumped 4.8 inches of snow couldn’t spoil a Ludacrismas.
Hip hop recording artist Ludacris, who is the CEO and chairman of the Ludacris Foundation, was adamant about showing up for the foundation’s Dec. 16 Christmas event in Homan Square Park, 3559 W. Arthington St.
“It’s not about just me giving out toys and giving out money,” Ludacris told a screaming crowd. “It’s about me being here…during this holiday season. I want everybody to be happy and reach as many people as I possibly can.”
The Christmas party, a part of the foundation’s LudaCares Initiative, had everything a kid could want for the holidays, including: sandwiches, cupcakes, potato chips, cotton candy, cookies, popcorn and sugary drinks. Santa and Mrs. Claus sat alongside a wall full of wrapped gifts, took photos with some children while others jotted down their letters to Santa.
Other children decorated stockings, stuffed LudaCare bears and danced along with the hip Gingerbread Man and Snowman doing some of the latest hip hop moves. Ludacrismas was a kids-only event with adult volunteers scattered throughout.
Some parents were pleasantly surprised when the Grammy Award-winning entertainer showed up to the party.
“I thought Santa Claus was coming. It’s unexpected, and I’m very proud of (Ludacris),” said Nicole, who brought her daughter, Monaye, out to the event. Nicole didn’t know about the surprise visit that Ludacris was making at the Christmas party and found out from a park district director.
Another mother, Monica Thomas, came with her son, Ralph. “I’m a fan of his although I’m a parent. I’ve heard of him donating and always doing things for others but never in Chicago.”
Christopher “Ludacris” Bridges is familiar with the Chicagoland area. Born September 1977 in Champaign, Illinois, he attended Oak Park and River Forest High School. He later moved to Atlanta. A hip hop lyricist since 2000, his sixth album, "Therapy of the Mind," was released Nov. 28.
Ludacris used his celebrity as a deejay (DJ Chris Lova Lova) and the success of a surplus of Billboard Top 100 songs like "What’s Your Fantasy?" to create the Ludacris Foundation in 2001. The Ludacris Foundation donated over $500,000 to grassroots organizations, food baskets to over 1,000 families and 1,500-plus Christmas toys to hospitalized children and low-income communities.
With songs like "Do the Right Thing" (featuring Chicago lyricist Common) discouraging youth violence, drug dealing and use, and promiscuity, Ludacris encourages safe sex, asking parents to be better role models and to “use your brain, homie, do the right thing.”
When asked what needs to happen to get young people out of gangs, he told the Defender, “The same way people came together to vote for Barack Obama, people need to work closer together. It starts at home…and with the family.”
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To see the photo gallery from this event, click here.
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