The Tribune first profiled Smith's work rescuing children from the Phnom Penh municipal garbage dump in Cambodia in December 2006. A follow-up story ran in December 2007 after readers' contributions helped finance A New Day Cambodia center, where 47 children lived and studied rather than sift through garbage for $10 a month.

The second story elicited another wave of generosity, and Smith, O'Neil and other board members of the A New Day Cambodia foundation opened a second center in April 2008. In all, 100 youngsters ages 6 to 21 now receive clean water, freshly cooked meals and daily schooling.

Thanks in part to a nomination from Steve Schanwald, the Bulls' executive vice president for business operations, the NBA noticed.

"The Values of the Game Award gives us a chance to recognize the great work that our teams' employees are doing off the court and outside the arena," said Chris Granger, NBA senior vice president for team marketing and business operations. "The tremendous effort by Bill and Joe, and the impact it will have on the children of Cambodia, underscores the passion that the larger NBA family has for the world community."

The work never ends. With about 600 annual sponsors currently on board with contributions ranging from $25 to $5,000, neither do the foundation's ambitions.

Neither Smith nor O'Neil takes a salary. They will travel to Cambodia on Jan. 26 for a variety of tasks.

They will meet with government officials to renew their charitable status and explore more medical programs to continue teaching the children proper hygiene and nutrition. They also will seek to expand educational and vocational opportunities for the children.

"There's a group of 15 or so kids who have exceeded our wildest expectations academically," Smith said. "We've hired two teachers of our own to enhance education for all our kids, but we want to find higher educational opportunities for our advanced students.

"Then we have one 21-year-old who is in 7th grade and embarrassed by that. But she's never going to be a good student because she didn't go to 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade. So what are we going to do, put her out on the street?

"We want to look at vocational opportunities and make connections in the business community to help kids get jobs, maybe as a hairdresser or a waitress for this one girl."

The 12 full-time employees include an executive director, three managers who monitor children's attendance, grades and behavior, two cooks, two nannies, two security guards and the two in-house teachers. They keep the place running when Smith and O'Neil are stateside.

"Never in our wildest dreams did we think it was going to go down the path it did," O'Neil said. "But we've enjoyed every step of the way. I remember early on there were times it was real scary. When we opened the first center, it seemed overwhelming. But it has come together. And the thing that keeps all of us going is the children. They're special."

Kind of like the readers' response.

For information or to make a donation, visit www.anewdaycambodia.org.