UNION PARISH - Karl Malone, one of the NBA's most iconic players and a native of north Louisiana's Claiborne Parish, worked with his family to support residents of Union Parish who've been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to KLFY, the Malone family, including Karl’s son K.J. who played football at LSU, as well as dozens of helpers from the community distributed over 80,000 pounds of food to Union Parish residents over the weekend.

Malone praised the community for their hard work and went on to tell reporters how grateful he was for the opportunity to help.

“I can’t even tell you how the community has been,” Malone said.

“This started really last Thursday. My heart’s full. It really is. It’s been a long time. I’m blessed. It’s been a long time since my heart has been this full with everybody supporting because we’re hurting. It don’t really matter with the pandemic. It don’t matter what your bank account says, what house you live in. All of us are hurting. To put out the word, man I’m proud.”

Malone played for Louisiana Tech University for three seasons before beginning his career with the NBA in 1985.

The-two time awarded MVP retired in 2003 and is now a member of the NBA Hall of Fame.