Dwight Howard scanned the crowd of smiling faces – both from teenage women and babies – and suddenly all of his frustration from the Orlando Magic’s recent woes was washed away. After all, Howard said, helping people in need is one of the most important things he’ll ever do.
Howard was at Orlando’s BETA Center, a non-profit support center designed to address the needs of homeless, pregnant teens, on Wednesday just a day after the Magic’s exhausting four-game, seven day road trip to the West Coast. Howard donated $25,000 to support the newly developed “Dwight Howard Learning Center’’ that will incorporate innovative activities to empower teen moms to achieve academic and vocational success. Services at the 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.
Howard’s donation became possible after he won the Rich and Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award for a fourth time and received the $50,000 prize to donate to the charity of his choice. And for a second straight year, Howard designated $25,000 of the money to the BETA Center to help the teen moms in the facility.
Howard was touched by the facility naming its learning facility after him and noted that leaving a legacy of giving in Orlando is important to him.
“That’s the best thing that you can do, leaving a legacy,’’ Howard said before signing hundreds of autographs and posing for dozens more pictures with babies. “It’s not all about running up and down the court, dunking a ball or whatever. All of that stuff is going to end one day. But a place like this will live forever. It means more to me to do something like this than anything else and I’m so glad that I’m here. I could be at home thinking about basketball and why we haven’t won a game, but all of that stuff doesn’t really matter; this is what really matters.’’
BETA Board of Directors spokesman Walter Hopkins called Howard “one of the inspirations and a true ambassador’’ to the center that opened in 1976 and has been a huge help to thousands of teens in crisis. Gaelle Jean Batiste, who wore her homemade Magic T-shirt with Howard’s No. 12 on it, had her daughter, Destiny, in her arms as she gave the Magic’s superstar center a tour of the facility.
“It means a lot being a teen parent and having somebody like Dwight to encourage us. This is a great thing for what’s doing for us. It just means so much knowing that there’s somebody out there like him who cares about us. It tells me that he cares about how we feel and the support that we need.’’
Eighteen-year-old Vanissha Burnett and her 11-month-old son, Xavier Burnett, are members of the program at BETA Center. She said the assist that Howard is giving the facility could make a life-changing difference for those like her and her son. And the help from the BETA Center keeps her on track to graduate from high school while knowing that her son is being well taken care of.
“It means a lot. Dwight helping us out means that there will be more scholarships for us to graduate from high school and take care of our kids at the same time,’’ Burnett said. “He’s making a difference in our lives. This program helps a lot and if it wasn’t here how could I go to school while letting someone I didn’t know watch my child? So I came to BETA and signed up and they helped me out a lot.’’
By John Denton
Orlando Magic
