Sixteen-year-old Adom Appiah was 13 when he took on a seventh-grade service project that would become Ball4Good, a nonprofit volunteer organization that has raised more than $70,000 for causes such as autism, the homeless and abused children. The project, a charity basketball game, has become an annual event, held each April.

This year’s basketball game will take place on April 19, 2020, according to website Ball4Good.org.

Since 2017, Ball4Good has benefited at least 18 community groups, including the Project HOPE Foundation; the Children’s Advocacy Center of Spartanburg, Cherokee and Union counties; Miracle Hill Ministries; and the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Upstate.

The year he began Ball4Good, Adom also took part in a Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2017, making it all the way to the semifinal round.

The son of Marjorie and Kofi Appiah speaks to area schools about the joys and meaning of volunteerism and has written three books -- “Kids Can Change The World: Young Readers’ Edition,” “Bouncing Back From Failure: By a Kid for Kids,” “Kids Can Change The World: A Middle Schooler’s Guide for Turning Passion Into Progress” -- aimed at motivating children to get involved in their community.

“It’s unbelievable,” his mom said. “He turned 13 and he turned his whole life around. He went to a spelling bee and never looked back.”

Now a sophomore at Spartanburg Day School, Adom Appiah (pronounced ah-DOM ahPIA) is involved in student government, the band (bass guitar), the debate club and the Interact Club. He also plays soccer and basketball.

“I’m most happy about the guidance and support I’ve received over the years,” Adom said. “Without that guidance, I wouldn’t be able to be where I am.”

Ball4Good came out of a seventh-grade project in U.S. history teacher Kelsea Turner’s class.

Turner said students are given time during one class period a week to create a year-long project to benefit an audience.

“It requires them to wonder, dream, set deadlines, find mentors and focus their energy outside of themselves,” she said. “Their grade does not depend on the success of the project, and they are encouraged to embrace the lessons that come from their failures.”

She said Adom created a project that allowed him to pursue two passions -- sports and community-building.

“Once the momentum began to build, Adom’s inspiration to make his project successful became palpable,” Turner said. “He recruited some of his classmates to volunteer at his first event and it seemed to be really rewarding for him to see the community invested in coming together for the benefit of others.”

The success of Adom’s first Ball4Good game in 2017 prompted him to establish the Ball4Good nonprofit.

His main mentor has been Mary Thomas, chief operating officer of the Spartanburg County Foundation, which promotes philanthropy.

Thomas said Adom’s interest in connecting with her as mentor goes back to when he was 11 years old.

“He found me through a Google search,” Thomas recalled. “His parents did not know that he had reached out to me until they brought him to see me. When he told me that he had raised $1,000, I knew then that he had something special and I agreed to be his mentor. ”

Thomas said the first fundraiser was a celebrity ballgame with a goal of $10,000.

“I told him to get Zion (Williamson, a Spartanburg Day School senior and basketball standout) and leave the rest to me in terms of getting local celebrities,” Thomas said. “We sold out that first game in the Spartanburg Day School gym. The rest is history.”

He recently was awarded a 2019 Gloria Barron Prize for Young Heroes, which honors young leaders. Speaking of the $10,000 award, he said he put half toward Ball4Good and the other half toward his college fund. Last spring, he was also named the South Carolina High School State Honoree for the prestigious Prudential Spirit of Community Awards.


Adom’s work with Ball4Good recently earned him nationwide attention when he was featured in a November Washington Post article. The interview process for that story was an eye-opening experience.

“It was amazing to see it come to life and come to publish,” Adom said of the recognition. “I’ve had tons of positive feedback. People were surprised, excited for me. I’m just happy for the opportunity. From that publicity, we can really spread the impact of Ball4Good and spread the exposure for Ball4Good team members.”

Thomas said what makes Adom stand out from others is his humility.

“He blew the first fundraiser out of the water because he was humble enough to listen, a trait that you do not often find in young people today,” she said. “He still has room to grow. After all, he is still a young teenager but he always checks in, and what was to be a short-term assignment has now evolved into almost four years serving as his mentor.

“He’s a great kid and will go very far in his life because he has what they call ‘it.’ And he uses ‘it’ to help do good in the world. He has tremendous potential.”

The Boys & Girls Club of the Upstate is among the recipients of Ball4Good funds, having received $7,000 from the first game three years ago.

Greg Tolbert, president of the chapter, said that money helped fund the summer program for children in Spartanburg. Last summer, Adom worked as a junior staff member at summer camp at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church in Spartanburg.


“Adom came on our board of directors after he did that -- the youngest director in the country,” Tolbert said, adding that Adom brings a valuable youth perspective.

“What I find about Adom and other high-flying kids is he is a doer,” Tolbert said. “The concept of participating is foreign to a lot of kids. They have an idea, but they don’t find a mentor that can help them do it. Then he executes his plan.

“What I want young people to be encouraged by is to look at what Adom did,” Tolbert said. “He had a passion, and people helped him. And boom, you have a very nice ongoing charity event.”

Turner said that even with Adom’s “focus, drive and compassion for others,” he is still “in many ways a typical teenager.

“I have watched him work hard to push through the same challenges that his peers have, including finding his own authentic voice, learning from his sometimes-humbling mistakes, feeling torn between investing energy in what he has to do versus what he wants to do in the moment, and so on,” she said.

“He’s still real -- I think he knows this, which is what makes him so inspiring to other kids. He’s just like them in so many ways.”

Where he’s at now is a special place, according to his mom. Marjorie said Adom has a calm demeanor just like his dad. He takes things in stride and isn’t bothered by heavy workloads.


“With Adom, it’s very important to us he doesn’t miss out on being a kid,” she said. “He still is able to get together with friends and play video games and basketball. I always tell him to stay humble and to have fun. Be himself, enjoy what you’re doing.”

Meanwhile, Adom has time left to decide what his post-secondary school life will be. “I’m still trying to figure it out,” he said, adding that he has visited Duke University and fell in love with the school.

Meanwhile, he has other goals while still at Spartanburg Day School. “By the end of my senior year I’m hoping to raise $200,000,” through Ball4Good, he said.

With the sky the only limit, don’t be surprised if he surpasses that.

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