Foundation Friday – The Steve Nash Foundation
Formed in 2001, The Steve Nash Foundation “aims to grow health in kids by funding projects that provide direct services to children affected by poverty, illness, abuse, or neglect, and create opportunity for education, health and empowerment.”
While a number of athletes have foundations in their names, Nash clearly takes an active role in his, using his celebrity athlete status to raise awareness for his charitable work and the issues that it tries to address. One of the most popular events that the Foundation puts on is called “Showdown,” which is an organized eight-on-eight soccer match with teams made up of NBA and soccer stars from around the world. These games are played in an urban setting and have included the likes to Theirry Henry, Grant Hill, Claudio Reyna, Tony Parker, Baron Davis, Chris Bosh, and others. The most recent one was in Chinatown in New York City on June 24th, 2009.
The Foundation’s website (www.stevenash.org) lists 18 different events that have been organized since 2007 and already has a link for a 2010 Showdown. There are a number of different ways to support the organization, including weekly or monthly payments, and passing certain donation thresholds rewards the donor with a foundation t-shirt. One other way to support the organization is to give a certain dollar amount for every assist that Nash has this season; an interesting twist that allows fans to cheer for Nash and support his foundation at the same time.
While there are a vast number of athlete foundations, it’s clear that Nash is incredibly involved in his and deserves the mention as this week’s pick for Foundation Friday.
