Andre Agassi Talks About Athletes For Hope

Fri, 16 Jan 2009 12:00:00 -0000

Former tennis great Andre Agassi has talked about his charitable efforts and his work with Athletes For Hope is a recent interview with CNBC.

Athletes For Hope is an organization that was established in 2006 to educate, encourage and assist athletes in their efforts to contribute to community and charitable causes, while at the same time increasing public awareness of those efforts, and inspiring others to do the same. Agassi launched the initiative with co-founders Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning, and Cal Ripken, Jr to pass his passion for philanthropy to others.

“We’ve signed up about 500 athletes in about a year’s time,” Agassi told CNBC. "Myself, Lance and Mia (Hamm) have been reaching out and we just got a bunch of the Portland TrailBlazers who want to be a part of it. We’re just trying to build this thing up as big as we can.

“I feel like it’s a daily effort to get it right and to make sure what I do in the next 20 years trumps the last 20 years. I keep pushing for the things I believe in. I used tennis as a vehicle and I got attracted to education because I saw how it could change the lives of children.”

During the interview, Agassi also talked about how difficult it is to keep a charity going, especially given the current recession.

“It’s difficult. If you want to be successful in any business, you have to put a lot of time into it. And an athlete’s time is a rare commodity. If you want a charity to work, it has to be a full-time commitment and then some. That’s why Athletes For Hope is big because it’s not only for people who don’t have the wherewithal to build their own foundation but will also serve as a great way for athletes to learn the process and what they should value. They are now surrounded by an army of us.”

The full interview can be read here.

Star Athletes Create Charity Team

Wed, 09 May 2007 14:02:29 -0000

Written by Myrlia Purcell

Athletes work hard to be the best at what they do, and now some of the top sports celebrities have joined their efforts to form a team with a common goal of philanthropy. The prize they hope to win is a better future for the world.

The founding members of Athletes For Hope are already familiar with charity work, and hope to pass their passion for helping others on to the future generation of sports stars.

“Combined, our 12 Founding Athletes have raised more than $500 million for charitable and health-related causes, have built schools, community centers, hospitals, parks, and stadiums, while touching countless lives in ways that can’t be calculated,” said Ivan Blumberg, CEO of Athlete’s for Hope.

Andre Agassi, Mia Hamm and Lance Armstrong originally put the idea together, and were soon joined by Muhammad Ali, Warrick Dunn, Jeff Gordon, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken, Jr. The have created a clearing house where young athletes will be teamed up with exsisting charities, or helped to create charities of their own.

They hope that involving the athletes will also inspire the public to get involved in philanthropy.

“We’ve helped each other through our foundations,” tennis star Agassi said. “We realized as much as we can effect (change) individually, you can effect more profoundly collectively. It’s an exponential message.”

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Andre Agassi Talks About Athletes For Hope

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