The Orlando Magic’s Dwight Howard was named the 2009-10 NBA Defensive Player of the Year, presented by Kia Motors. As part of its support of the Defensive Player of the Year Award, Kia Motors America donated a new 2011 Kia Sorento CUV on behalf of Howard, to Nap Ford Community School. Nap Ford’s vision is to empower students to maximize their potential to be contributing members of society. This is the third car awarded to a non-profit organization by a Magic player in Central Florida’s Parramore community through the NBA’s annual awards. The Orlando Magic has made a social and financial commitment to the revitalization of the Parramore area. The Magic’s efforts in the city’s west-side community have included:
- Pledging $250,000 to the Parramore Kidz Zone and After School All-Stars to provide positive programs for local youth vulnerable to drugs, gangs and violence.
- Refurbishing Parramore’s New Image Youth Center.
- Built a new playground at the John H. Jackson Community Center in Parramore.
- Renovating the Downtown Boys and Girls Club.
- Providing school supplies to the Bridge to Independence School and sponsoring a trip for kids from the Parramore Kidz Zone to New York City.
- Partnering with the Orange County Arts Education Center to provide Parramore youth exposure to the arts via a series of ongoing arts-enriching endeavors.
- Upon receiving the 2007-‘08 NBA’s Most Improved Player Award presented by Kia Motors, Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu donated a brand-new 2009 Kia Borrego seven-passenger SUV to Parramore Kidz Zone. When Dwight Howard received the NBA’s Defensive Player of the Year Award in 2008-‘09, he donated a Kia to Parramore’s Orlando Day Nursery.
- Dwight Howard presented 300 pairs of Adidas shoes to the students at Orange Center Elementary for their hard work towards improving their FCATs.
- Howard also donated $25,000 to help renovate the Parramore Kidz Zone Teen Shack, a facility which gives teens a place to hang out and is now complete with a new photography lab, laptops and videogames.
- Orlando Magic center Adonal Foyle delivered healthy snacks, Magic backpacks and a meaningful message on making healthy lifestyle choices to the elementary students at Nap Ford Community School in Parramore.
- Equipped with paint brushes, drills, hammers, gloves and garbage bags, the Orlando Magic’s staff volunteer program (MVP) helped renovate a Parramore area home.
- As proud partner of the Orlando Magic, Kia Motors America and the Orlando Magic teamed up to renovate Hi-Tech Tutoring (HTT) Reading and Learning Center. In April 2009, HTT received $15,000 from the Magic and Kia Motors to purchase new computer software, furniture, TVs, school supplies, educational games and books.
- On May 27, 2009, the Orlando Magic developed a state-of-the-art computer lab at the Jackson Community Center in Parramore.
