May 13, 2025
When D’Arvae walked into the United Center Friday, April 18, it took him a minute to collect his emotions.
“It looks just like it does on NBA 2K25,” he shouted, looking down at the court from above the visitor’s basket.
For D’Arvae and many others like him living at Mercy Home, trips to see the Chicago Bulls in person were rare. Many of our kids had never been to a professional basketball game before living at our Home.
“I try to point out all the positives and the experiences that they couldn’t get outside of Mercy Home,” tutoring and after school coordinator Maya Morris said.
As part of building healthy habits throughout winter, Mercy Home held its third annual Health and Wellness Challenge in collaboration with the Chicago Bulls and Gallagher Insurance this year. The challenge, which began in January, motivated our kids to make intentional choices to help benefit their mental, emotional, and intellectual health during the winter months. It concluded with a trip to Chicago’s United Center where they were welcomed at a dinner by the Chicago Bulls.
“The game is a chance for the kids to come together and celebrate with the Bulls,” Morris said.
“I know the girls were chanting players’ names that they knew,” Morris said. “It was cool for them to see people that they look up to and idolize.”
“[The challenge] was to get kids to push themselves, to challenge themselves, and to be more aware of their health and wellness both physically and mentally,” Morris said.
One college freshman who lives with us, Alise, said that she usually only walks 5,000 steps in a day, but during the challenge, she tasked herself with getting to 10,000. Another young person, Wayland, said that he created goals to set himself up for success in the future.
“The Bulls and Gallagher Winter Wellness Challenge was a way to disconnect from my day-to-day challenges, and I completed the whole bingo card with the help of my peers at Mercy Home,” Wayland said.
The Friday night outing at the United Center was a celebration of all their hard work. The groups gathered on buses and made the one-mile trek to the arena. They were welcomed by the Chicago Bulls Community Engagement team, which played a slide show of program photos from the last few months. Our young people were then treated to a buffet dinner. The Bulls also announced that they were providing each program participant with a pair of Converse shoes.
“It was really nice to see [youth from] both campuses happy,” Morris said. “It was also cool to learn what the boys did on their campus. I know health and wellness can look a little bit different for boys and girls. I know we push mental health to girls and being open, but seeing the boys have those same opportunities was really nice.”
The group was then taken to their seats to watch the Bulls’ final regular season home game. The Bulls defeated the Washington Wizards, 119-89, as they saw Julian Phillips score a career-high 23 points on 7-of-9 shooting and Nikola Vucevic tally 15 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists. Matas Buzelis tacked on 20 points and Coby White scored 16 points with nine rebounds for the Bulls.
“I know the girls were chanting players’ names that they knew,” Morris said. “It was cool for them to see people that they look up to and idolize.”
The trip to the United Center was the program’s second in 2025. Earlier, they heard from a panel of representatives at Gallagher Insurance and the Chicago Bulls organization about careers before playing basketball at the Chicago Bulls training facility, the Advocate Center.
The Bulls and Mercy Home have enjoyed a years-long relationship, including the team’s support of our Hoops for Homework program. Hoops for Homework began as a group of our young men competing in an organized intramural basketball league. The league had referees, a draft, weekly games, playoffs, and a championship game. The participation in the league revolved around schoolwork as well. But after COVID struck in 2020, the program shut down.
Thank you to the Chicago Bulls, Gallagher, and our coworkers for making this year’s Wellness Challenge one to remember!
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