Orlando, Fla. – The Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard was named the 2010-2011 winner of the Rich & Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award (CEA) Saturday night at the 21st Annual OMYF Black Tie & Tennies Gala Presented by FAIRWINDS Credit Union held at the Amway Center. This marks the fifth time and fourth consecutive year Howard has won the award (2004-05, 2007-08, 2008-09, 2009-10, 2010-11). Other finalists for the award included Ryan Anderson, Chris Duhon and J.J. Redick.

Each year at the Gala, the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation (OMYF) honors a player who has dedicated his efforts off the court for the purpose of enhancing others’ lives. An anonymous panel of external representatives selects the player. In addition to receiving the award, the player is granted $50,000 from the Richard and Helen DeVos Foundation to donate to the charity of his choice.

Howard has consistently volunteered his time off the court and to the Central Florida community supporting the initiatives of the Magic’s community relations department, the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation and the NBA. Highlights of his community involvement for the 2010-11 season include:

• Through his D12 Foundation, presented checks totaling $70,000 to four local non-profit organizations as part of his “Gifts from the Heart” Valentine’s day caravan.  He also made visits to each organization throughout the day.
• For the second consecutive year, as part of his 2010 CEA Award donated $25,000 to the BETA Center to support the newly developed “Dwight Howard Learning Center” at BETA. Howard also visited the residents at the house. The learning center is a newly designed program that incorporates innovative activities to empower teen moms to achieve academic and vocational success.
• Donated $25,000 of his 2010 CEA Award money to “Blessings in a Backpack” to provide children from Lake Como Elementary with a nutritious meal on the weekends.  Howard also made a visit to Lake Como to help “stuff” the backpacks with food for the students. 
• Donated and distributed Thanksgiving meals to over 125 families complete with a turkey and all the trimmings.
• Provided 100 youth from the Boys & Girls Club of Central Florida with gift cards and took them on a shopping spree over the holidays.
• Provided 1,900 coats over the holidays to youth from five local non-profit organizations. Took 100 of those youth on a coat shopping spree.
• Active with the Make a Wish program, fulfilling wishes for youth throughout the season before several Magic home games.
• Active with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, serving as an ambassador to assist in their fundraising efforts and meeting with patients from the hospital.
• Participated in the NBA’s Basketball Without Borders program in India and South Africa.  The program focuses on education, grassroots basketball development and HIV/AIDS education and advocacy.
• Donated gifts and met with families for the Magic holiday party with underprivileged children and their families.
• Participated in two internal autograph sessions, which helps support Central Florida non-profit organizations by raising money through silent auctions.
• While in Los Angeles for All-Star weekend 2011 participated in a KaBoom! playground build as part of NBA Cares service projects.

Past winners of the award include Nick Anderson (1995-1996), Penny Hardaway (1996-1997), Darrell Armstrong (1997-1998, 1999-2000), Grant Hill (2000-2001), Monty Williams (2001-2002), Tracy McGrady (2002-2003), Pat Garrity (2003-2004) and Bo Outlaw (1998-1999, 2005-2006, 2006-2007).

Earlier this year, the Orlando Magic Youth Fund, a McCormick Foundation Fund (OMYF-MFF), presented checks totaling $1 million to 19 grantee organizations from three counties in Central Florida (Orange, Seminole and Osceola). The presentation was done in the spirit of the NBA Draft as each non-profit organization was announced and came up on stage to be presented with an OMYF jersey or specialty basketball. The organizations were also recognized at halftime of the January 19 Magic v. Sixers matchup.

All proceeds from the Gala go to OMYF and will help change the lives of children and families in our local community. The OMYF is committed to helping children in Central Florida realize their full potential, especially those most at-risk, by supporting programs and partnerships that empower families and change lives.

About the OMYF

Over the last 21 years, more than $16 million has been distributed to local non-profit community agencies offering programs for at-risk youth focused on education, arts and health and wellness. The Orlando Magic Youth Foundation raises community dollars annually through donations, auctions and events such as the Black Tie and Tennies Gala and the OMYF Golf Tournament. The McCormick Foundation matches all donations to the Fund at fifty cents on the dollar. In 2011, in addition to presenting checks totaling $1 million to 19 non-profit organizations, scholarships totaling $30,000 will be given to three local students. To learn more, visit omyf.org.

WHO: Orlando Magic franchise player and Gold Medal winner Dwight Howard will be on site at locations throughout Orlando. He will be signing autographs, taking photos, etc.

WHEN: Monday Feb 14th, 2011 9am – 4pm

MORE INFO: NBA All Star Dwight Howard has a long history if commitment & philanthropy to those in Central Florida and around the world. With the launch of The D12 Foundation, Dwight is looking to assist those less fortunate in the Orlando area and hopes to inspire others in the community to do the same. Dwight was named the 2009-2010 winner of the Rich & Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award. This marks the fourth time and the third consecutive year Howard has won the award.

PRESS CONTACT: Dwight will be available for interviews. Please RSVP to Janell Barrett-Jones / 310.859.8870 / janell@graceglobalpr.com

“Trick or treat,” Howard would say before flashing a mega-watt smile that had a contagious effect on the dozens of kids swarming around him and hanging on his every word.

Just hours after getting back into Orlando following the Magic´s 99-95 defeat of the 76ers Wednesday night in Philadelphia, Howard was at Lake Como Elementary School helping students pack food into take-home pouches as part of the “Blessings in a Backpack” program. Howard donated $25,000 to the project as part of the winnings from the 2009-10 Rich and Helen DeVos Community Enrichment award.

The program is designed to feed elementary school children whose families qualify for the federal free and reduced meal program and may not have enough food for the weekends. Every Friday, the students receive a backpack full of noodles, puddings, apple sauce and various juices to ensure that the child has food to eat while not at school. Florida is one of seven states participating in the program, and much of it is made possible by the generosity of the Magic´s superstar center.

“I know that so many of these kids will go home and not have food, so this gives them a way to eat and get a good meal while they aren´t in school,” said Howard, who packed backpacks, high-fived the kids and signed numerous autographs. “They´ve done studies and research showing that for some of these kids the only time they eat is when they are in school. So by having Blessings in a Backpack, kids get a chance to have food to eat over the weekends so they can come back to school strong and healthy.”

Lake Como Elementary School guidance counselor Sandy Glaize predicted that kids in her school will still be talking about getting to meet Howard weeks from now. She said the Blessings in a Back program has been one that´s shown tremendous results in kids´ energy and attitudes. And she said that because the nation´s economy has been in a prolonged downturn more families than ever have had to depend on the program to feed their children over the weekend.

“It´s been a tremendous help to our kids and they don´t have to worry about not eating all weekend. We´ve seen a difference on Monday mornings where kids are coming in with more energy. When we can mitigate the effects of hunger kids don´t have to worry about it and it´s a huge help to their development,” Glaize said. “For some of these kids, what they take home in the backpack is all they have for the weekend. Then, we have other families who can combine with what their kids bring home and it helps with all of the siblings and it helps their food budgets. I´ve talked to the parents when I´m shopping for the backpack food and they´ll say, `I can´t tell you how much I appreciate this. My husband just lost his job and we really look forward to this every weekend.´ The economy has taken an effect at every socio-economic levels and the backpack program has been a tremendous boost for the kids. It´s something that they can count on, and they do.”

Magic Community Relations Manager Robyn Goukas said that the backpack plan is also made possible by the work of volunteers from the Magic organization. A total of 20 Magic employees a week go to Kaley Elementary and Lake Como Elementary to pack approximately 250 backpacks at the schools. Kids pick up the backpacks on Friday and return them on Monday morning. Glaize said work by the Magic´s volunteers shows the organization cares as much about its community as it does its basketball team.

“One, Dwight gives us the money and that´s the start of the program. But the real heart of the program is the volunteers who come from the front-office who come every week, give up their time and interact with the kids,” Glaize said. “They are bigger than life on the screen and this really humanizes the organization. They get it and understand how important this program is to the kids.”

Howard playfully introduced himself to the students as “Rick James,” and then told the kids that he was the Magic´s mascot, Stuff. “No, you aren´t, I saw you on TV,” one student screamed. “Well, I saw you dunking for the Magic,” another yelled. At that point, Howard high-fived the kids and started the program of filling the backpacks full of food.

Howard said remaining active in the community and doing what he can to assist local kids ensures that he is leaving his legacy off the court as well as on it.

“Doing stuff like this is more important to me than any basketball game because this is going to be remembered forever by these kids,” Howard said. “Basketball is very important to me, but spending time with the kids and being able to give back goes a long way. Once you stop playing basketball, people forget about you. But once you make an impact on somebody´s life, that goes a long, long way and means a lot to people. This is making a difference in someone´s life and I´m proud of it.”

By John Denton
OrlandoMagic.com

Enrichment Award”, NBA All-Star Dwight Howard presented a donation of $25,000 to the BETA Center in Orlando for the second consecutive year. Dwight’s gift of $25,000 will be used to support the newly developed “Dwight Howard Learning Center at BETA,” a newly designed program that incorporates innovative activities to empower teen moms to achieve academic and vocational success.

Services at “The Dwight Howard Learning Center” will include tutoring, college preparation, self-esteem building and more. It will also provide funding to cover college application fees and test preparation booklets, instructional materials and other essential program-related supplies.

Dwight Howard visits Beta Center

Upon arriving in Haiti, Dwight visited several organizations, including the Haitian Olympic Committee (COH), where he visited COH’s youth recreation program within Parc Acra Camp, a tent settlement camp of over 4000 residents in Port-au-Prince. The program provides kids living in the tent camp an opportunity for organized playtime to give them the chance to be kids despite their harsh living conditions. There Dwight announced that the DHF is donating funds to ensure the program’s continuation. He also ran basketball drills with attending kids (approximately 300 children) and distributed black & blue DHF wristbands.

Dwight also visited the Association of Volunteers in International Service (AVSI) where he was a special guest at Maranatha School in Cité Soleil which has 129 enrolled students between the ages of 6 to 13 years. The school organized a special morning of play for the kids in honor of Dwight’s visit and their basketball court in which their basketball court was flooded with over 200 children. The kids sang songs to welcome Dwight and put on a karate demonstration for him. There Dwight announced that the Dwight Howard Fund will support the school for the 2010-2011 school year by covering the cost of teacher salaries, uniforms and school kits. 

The final organization visited during his trip was the Global Outreach Haiti Mission, TiTanyen, Haiti, just 15 miles north of Port-au-Prince. There, in partnership with Blessing in a Backpack, Dwight will provide daily nutritious meals for roughly 250 school children throughout the school year.  The impoverished Caribbean country was struck by a magnitude 7.0 earthquake on January 12 that killed 250,000 people and destroyed much of the capital, forcing hundreds of thousands into tent cities.

"My objective is just to come over here and put a smile on kids’ faces,” Many have forgotten about the Haitian earthquake victims, he said. "It’s been on my mind everyday. And I want to make sure that I do my part. I wanted to show my support." We just can’t forget" about the Haitian quake victims.” Every time I will step on the court I will think about all the kids in Haiti and around the world and just how much I can inspire them.”

As an avid supporter of philanthropic causes in both Atlanta and Orlando, Dwight has partnered with BBBS to help raise awareness for the need of additional male volunteers to serve as Big Brothers in the Metro Atlanta community. Currently, more than 1,000 boys in the area are waiting to be matched with an adult mentor volunteer.

As part of his efforts to help Haiti, Dwight launched a unique micro-giving challenge for Haiti on Pinkdingo.com to raise money to help the children of Haiti affected by the catastrophic January earthquake. In a ‘call to action’ effort to get lots of people working together to make small contributions to the cause, 2 donors to the Dwight Howard Fund Challenge received a $500 Adidas shopping spree with Dwight himself and a trip to the ’09 NBA Eastern Conference Final, for a minimum donation of just $2.99. As a result, additional donations were made to support Haiti and two lucky winners received a great experience as a result!

"I was personally moved to do something international after spending time in South Africa last summer and finding out the impact I can make on kids from a different culture and place. Haiti seemed like the perfect place to start and a place that really needs the help. They were a poor country and then they had the devastating earthquake, so they need a lot of help. There have been a lot of relief efforts in Haiti already but there’s still a lot of work to do there, especially with the children."