Entourage star Jeremy Piven, welterweight champion Georges St.-Pierre and female poker pro Maria Ho are touring Israel this week with WNBA players Alysha Clark and Mistie Bass and NBA players Omri Casspi, Amar’e Stoudemire, Shaun Marion, Rudy Gay, Beno Udrih and Chris Copeland.
“I’m so excited for the 2nd annual Omri Casspi Foundation trip to Israel,” Israeli native Casspi wrote on Instagram. “Our group this year includes celebrities from different platforms — NBA, WNBA, UFC, Hollywood, so we can reach the most diverse populations, and show to the world how beautiful our Israel really is.”
Last year’s inaugural Omri Casspi Foundation trip included seven NBA players. This year Casspi partnered with Los Angeles-based entertainment executive Traci Szymanski, who previously brought over celebs such as the Backstreet Boys, Jason Derulo, Paula Abdul, Joanna Krupa and cast members from CSI: NY and CSI: Miami for a taste of Israeli culture and history.
Piven, 51, better known for his role as Hollywood agent Ari Gold in the long-running HBO series, celebrated a symbolic bar mitzvah overlooking Jerusalem’s Western Wall on August 5.
To mark the occasion, Casspi, Stoudemire, CharityBids CEO Israel Schachter and TV-radio host/brand consultant Dave Osokow dedicated an ambucycle in Piven’s honor to voluntary first-response organization United Hatzalah of Israel.
The group’s itinerary throughout the country includes a basketball clinic today with 400 children in Ramle, sponsored by Bank Hapoalim.
Stoudemire, who just signed a two-year contract with Hapoel Jerusalem basketball club, is also scouting out schools for his children ahead of his family’s move to Israel later this month.