“THE FIRST few years I wanted to focus on hockey and on getting my career started,” says Vinny Lecavalier, captain of hockey’s Tampa Bay Lightning. But once he’d acclimated, he decided he wanted to spend the rest of his career in Tampa Bay and felt it was time to become an inte- gral part of the community, so he went shopping for a cause. “I wanted to be involved with kids,” Lecavalier says. “I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do. My cousin had cancer when he was younger. But
NHL IMAGES VIA
GE T T Y IMAGES
Vincent Lecavalier Vincent Lecavalier Foundation 4912 Creekside Drive, Clearwater, FL 33760 (727) 781-8183
www.vinny4.com
lizwillyoung@vinny4.com
at the same time, there are
so many good causes.
“After I met with All
Children’s Hospital [in
St. Petersburg] and met
kids that had cancer and
the families, what they
went through, that’s when I knew I wanted
to be involved with All Children’s. They
were telling me their vision for the future
and helping the families out so families and
the kids are comfortable when they go
through the treatment.”
Lecavalier formed a foundation and com-
mitted to raising $3 million to build a new
pediatric center. The Vincent Lecavalier
Pediatric Cancer and Blood Disorders Center
opened a year ago, but his fundraising efforts
Vinny Lecavalier hangs out with
Thomas, a 19-year-old patient at the
Vincent Lecavalier Pediatric Cancer
and Blood Disorders Center.
DONALD LYND
continue. When he spoke to The Connection
by phone in March, he was getting ready to
participate in a fashion show with children
receiving foundation support. He was also preparing for a more personal fundraising effort.
“Six guys from our team, including myself,
are going to shave our heads. It’s for the foundation and for the Pediatric Cancer Foundation,”
he explains. “It’ll be funny how I look, but at
least, with six guys from the team doing it, I
won’t be the only one.” C
JamieMoyer
The Moyer Foundation
2426 32nd Ave. W., Seattle, WA, 98199
(206) 298-1217
www.moyerfoundation.org
info@moyerfoundation.org
enough,” he says. “The experience and the guid-
enough,” he says. “The experience and the guid- Jamie Moyer interacting with Camp Erin–Albany campers in NYC.
THE MOYER FOUNDATION
THE MOYER FOUNDATION has raised more than
$20 million to help support more than 225 different programs that help children in distress in a
variety of ways. These programs include Camp
Erin, the largest network of special camps in the
country for children grieving a significant loss,
and Camp Mariposa, for children affected by
addiction in their families.
Now an analyst with ESPN, Jamie Moyer, the
veteran pitcher for the Philadelphia Phillies and,
before that, the Seattle Mariners, Chicago Cubs
and Texas Rangers, among others, recalls being
involved in his teams’ philanthropic events. “For
us [Jamie and his wife, Karen], it wasn’t quite
ance we learned from these major- league clubs opened our eyes to ther initiatives that are in commu- nities, and that’s where we directed our attentions.” They formed The Moyer Foundation in 2000. “I can tell you why his philan- thropy is super,” says Greg Johnson, executive director of the Boston-
based Sports Philanthropy Project. “Somebody
asked him, is it for a personal reason? And he
said, ‘No, nothing afflicted our family in that
way. We just saw some need and we went out
to address it.’ ”
As to why some professional athletes do so
much to help others, Moyer says, “I think they
see their profession as important, but I think they
also realize too that they have the ability to make
a difference in people’s lives because of their
careers and who they are, where they’ve been
and the people that have touched their lives. You
get taught a lot of life lessons, and it’s very hum-
bling. And I think it allows us as athletes to keep
our careers and life in perspective.” C
MILES KENNEDY
MAY 2011 ;e Costco Connection 33
