Duke’s Caleb Foster hosts Thanksgiving food drive at Charlotte-area middle school

Caleb Foster returned to his middle school this weekend.

Foster, Duke’s freshman point guard who entered as a five-star recruit, grew up in Harrisburg and attended Hickory Ridge Middle School. He spent his freshman year at Hickory Ridge High before finishing high school at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia and Notre Dame High in California.

On Saturday afternoon, Foster hosted a Thanksgiving food drive in his middle school’s parking lot. His teammates comprising the Blue Devils’ “Freshmen Four” — TJ Power, Sean Stewart and Jared McCain — joined him, greeting community members and placing bags with turkeys and canned goods into their trunks.

“This is something I dreamed of,” Foster said. “Ever since this journey started. It’s been a long journey, but it all started here. I knew once I got to Duke, I’d always want to come back to the place I started.”

When the event began, Foster and his teammates walked out of the school’s auxiliary gymnasium to an applause from the crowd. Many families were on-hand in the school’s parking lot, and the players were signing their basketballs and posing for photos with them whenever there weren’t any cars coming through.

“They made me who I am today,” Foster said about his time at Hickory Ridge. “This is why I wanted to give back. You got to give back to the people who made you who you are.”

Foster, who’s averaging 10.5 points four games into his freshman season, had a breakout performance last Tuesday. He led Duke (3-1) with 18 points, on 7-of-8 shooting, in its 74-65 win against Michigan State.

The freshman’s impressive .467 3-point shooting percentage currently leads the Blue Devils, who host La Salle on Tuesday at 7 p.m.

“I love this — see my old family members I haven’t seen in a while, my teammates, my teachers,” Foster said. “My heart is melting right now.”