Huestis Supports Foster Children
Retired NBA Star Josh Huestis Empowers Great Falls Foster Children with Annual Shopping Spree
Retired NBA player Josh Huestis brought dozens of foster children on a shopping spree in Great Falls, Montana on Saturday, June 20, 2026. Each child received between $250 and $400 to spend on clothes, school supplies, and personal items, according to KRTV Great Falls.
The event is now in its fourth year. It was funded by a raffle held during Huestis's youth basketball camp and donations from the Josh Huestis Foundation. About 60 foster and kinship youth took part in the 2026 event.
A Hometown Hero Returns to Give Back
Huestis grew up in Great Falls. He was the first Montana native ever drafted in the first round of the NBA Draft, playing for the Oklahoma City Thunder. After retiring, he turned his focus home. "Growing up in Great Falls, I knew I wanted to come back and be the person I needed when I was a kid," Huestis said, according to KRTV Great Falls.
The week leading up to the spree was busy. Huestis ran a youth basketball camp at Great Falls High School from June 15 to 18. The camp drew over 150 local athletes. A community raffle during those sessions raised an estimated $12,000 to $15,000 to fund the shopping event, according to KRTV Great Falls.
L.O.V.E. Partnership Puts Kids First
The shopping spree runs through a partnership with L.O.V.E. — short for Leadership, Opportunity, Voice, Empowerment. It is a Great Falls nonprofit founded by former foster youth. The group identifies which children take part and provides ongoing mentorship. L.O.V.E. reports that 90% of youth in its programs stay in school or job training, according to the organization's 2025 Annual Report.
The nonprofit stresses that kinship families — grandparents or relatives raising children — are often left out of foster care support. L.O.V.E. made sure they were included in Saturday's event. Volunteers, including local coaches and community leaders, shopped alongside each child to make the experience personal and joyful, according to KPAX.
Montana's Foster Care Crisis Makes Events Like This Critical
Montana has one of the highest rates of children in foster care in the country. The state's opioid and methamphetamine epidemic has pushed many rural families into crisis. Great Falls sits in Cascade County, which consistently ranks among the top three Montana counties for foster care placements, according to KXLF.
There are over 3,000 children in Montana's foster care system at any given time. Saturday's event reached roughly 60 of them. Advocates say the model needs to grow to cities like Billings and Missoula to make a bigger dent. Huestis said the goal is simple: "These kids in the foster system are some of the strongest people I know. This isn't just about clothes — it's about showing them their community is in their corner," according to KRTV Great Falls.
Children Left With Full Bags and a Sense of Belonging
After the shopping wrapped up at noon, Huestis sat down with the children for lunch. He spoke about resilience and what it means to have a community behind you. Experts say moments like these matter deeply. "When a professional athlete — a hometown hero — invests time in them, it disrupts the internal narrative of abandonment that many foster children carry," according to KTVQ.
The children left with bags full of new items — not hand-me-downs. L.O.V.E. has identified the lack of new clothing as a real source of trauma for foster youth. For Huestis, the shopping spree is just one piece of a longer effort to show Great Falls foster kids they are not forgotten.
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