Back in the day (1997ish), I decided that I wanted to work in sports media because I was sick and tired of turning on the TV and finding out the latest professional athlete to be arrested while the thousands of hours and millions of dollars they donate to the communities they live and work in go completely unnoticed. Ten years later, I'm in a position to do something about that...
This summer, I will be highlighting the various charity foundations and events that teams and individual players support.
To kick off the series, I turn to Vincent Lecavalier - this years co-recipient of the NHL Foundation Player Award (along with Trevor Linden of the Vancouver Canucks).
The aptly named Vincent Lecavalier Foundation was awarded $25,000 on his behalf by the NHL Foundation for applying the core values of hockey - commitment, perseverance and teamwork - to enrich the lives of people in his community.
The bottom line is that Lecavalier's foundation (also known as the VL4 Foundation) committed $3 million for construction of the new All Children's Hospital - including a state-of-the art facility that will officially be named the Vinny Lecavalier Center for Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders - but as always, there's more to this story.
When Lecavalier came into the league in 1998 as the first overall draft pick, he knew that one day he'd want to be in a position to give back to the community, but in order to do that he'd have to establish himself as one of the premier players in the league. So he decided to put this idea on the back burner and focus on hockey.
Five years later, he found himself in that position and decided to create The Vincent Lecavalier Foundation. Only one problem...he didn't know how. He wasn't aware of all the paperwork and legal issues that needed to be taken tare of.
"I thought I could just say, 'Ok, I want to start this foundation.' and then - boom - we could start tomorrow and unfortunately that wasn't the case. There was a lot of stuff I needed to fill out and decisions I had to make before we could really get going with anything."
In the mean time, Lecavalier partnered with Kane's Furniture to offer a performance based charitable contribution program to benefit All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg, FL - $1000 for every goal and $300 for every assist.
The Vincent Lecavalier Foundation was officially launched in December 2005 and Lecavalier knew he wanted to do something big, but wasn't sure what. So, he arranged meetings with various organizations to determine which one he wanted to donate to. This process also proved to be harder than expected. He'd meet with one group of people and go home thinking he wanted to donate to them...until he met with another group and wanted to donate to them. Ultimately, he stuck with All Children's Hospital because he not only liked the cause - to help children with cancer and their families - but also their vision - to be the leaders in research, teaching and treatment of pediatric cancer and blood disorders.
All Children's Hospital will open in 2009 and The Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center will feature 28 individual patient rooms - including in-room accommodations for both parents to stay overnight with their child, a HEPA filtration positive pressure airflow system - allowing immuno-suppressed patients to move freely throughout the center rather than being restricted to their room, and a team of clinical pharmacists, dietitians, therapists and oncologists with access to cutting-edge therapies.
When asked if he would be excited to see the hospital's construction finished he replied, "I'll be happy to see the children and their families go in, get treated and most importantly, go home healthy."
That, ladies and gentlemen, is what I call a quality individual.
Lecavalier hosts events throughout the year, including his annual Texas Hold'em Celebrity Poker Tournament, and is planning more in the Tampa Bay area as well as in his hometown of Montreal.
Of course, I will be apprising you of these events as they come up, but if you would like to find out more about the foundation and/or how to donate, please visit his website - www.vincentlecavalier.com - be sure to check it out again in a few weeks as I am told a complete, and much sharper, redesign is in the works.
Jules
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