Athletes and their charitable causes

Throughout the semester, Galo and I have posted articles that have investigated issues, controversies and high points in sports. For the most part, our articles have been opinionated on topics such as steroids, run-ins with the law and death, to name a few. However, for this final blog of the semester, I wanted to end on a positive note. This blog focuses on the importance of athletes’ involvement in philanthropy, community outreach and charitable causes.

As I began my research, Athletes for Hope, an organization launched in April 2007, popped up prominently. So I began to browse through the Web site. The neat thing that I found out is that this organization was actually founded by a group of well-known athletes including: Lance Armstrong, Muhammad Ali, Andre Agassi, Warrick Dun, Mia Hamm, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joynor-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonso Mourning and Cal Ripken Jr. What is unique, in my opinion, is that all of these professional athletes come from different sports, including tennis, boxing and auto racing to hockey and skateboarding, to work towards one goal.

The mission of this organization, which is posted on there Web site is: “To educate, encourage and assist athletes in their efforts to contribute to community and charitable causes, to increase public awareness of those efforts, and to inspire others to do the same.” (www.athletesforhope.org)

Jason Belinkie, manager of athlete relations for the organization said athletes have a variety of reasons for getting involved and help out.

“Some athletes have family members that have been afflicted by a particular disease and want to help in the fight against that disease,” Belinkie said in an e-mail interview. “Other athletes feel compelled to get involved because they have received a lot of support from those around them during the course of their lives, and they want to give back to their community. Many athletes just love being around children (or any other type of people) and want to help them in any way they can.”

A main goal of the organization is to educate athletes on the power they have to help. Once an athlete decides to join the organization, he or she is interviewed, a profile is created and there is a match made with a charity.

“Charity work is important for everyone, not just athletes,” Belinkie said. “However, Professional and Olympic athletes have a unique opportunity to give back because they are in the public eye, and many of them are admired role models in their communities. Every athlete who has achieved professional or Olympic status has worked hard to achieve their goals, and when other people hear their stories, it is often inspirational to them.”

The organization has had many success stories since it was formed, including working with more than 400 athletes, according to Belinkie, the organization has formed partnerships with 10 nationally recognized charitable organizations and Athletes for Hope has presented to members of leagues including Major League Soccer, the PGA tour and the LPGA, just to name some.

“On Monday (May 5), we connected 13 members of the US Women's National Soccer team to Children's Hospital in Washington DC, where they visited beside patients and kids in playrooms,” Belinkie said. “ Many of the Women's players also visited the Boys and Girls club to conduct a soccer clinic with 30 kids in Southeast DC that evening.”

Belikie said some members have been connected to various children’s organizations as well.

“We connected several members of Major League Soccer's Houston Dynamo to an organization called KaBoom!, that builds Children's playgrounds around the US, and they helped with the build and gave a speech at the ribbon cutting ceremony,” Belinkie said. “We've connected a few Olympic athletes to an organization called KEEN, which trains individuals to become volunteer coaches and work with children and young adults with mental and physical disabilities through sports.”

Organizations like Athletes for Hope show that most athletes are not just talented professionals who only show up to play their respected sports, but they also do what they can to help out. Along with organizations like this one, there are also “built-in” ways in teams that athletes get involved, and I have seen this first hand through my internship with the Rancho Cucamonga Quakes Single A affiliate to the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

“You want the community to back you up as an organization,” Cordero said.

Cordero said the fans are the ones who support the athletes, and if the athletes support causes, the fans will, in turn, also support the same causes.

“(The athletes) help guide younger kids to do better,” Cordero said.

At the beginning of my internship, Cordero was preparing for the annual Hot Stove Banquet, which is a dinner that occurs before the season begins to bring awareness and raise money for a cause. The big philanthropy this season is autism. The front office gathered silent auction items, raffle gifts and put together a huge event in the name of the team to support this cause. Along with this, during the off-season and even throughout the season, there are various mascot and player appearances that happen, which I have been able to be a part of.

I have been a huge fan of sports since I was young. I liked the athletes, teams and competition of the games, but it wasn’t until I got older that I realized that there is more to professional sports. As a result of my realization, I have figured out that this is something that I want to pursue as a career. No, I don’t want to be an athlete, but I want to get into a community relations department. I am a firm believer that if an individual has the power to reach out and help, that person should.

Here are some links to other organizations that athletes are involved in:
Athletesforcharity.com
Thinkcure.org
Nationalautisomassociation.org