Connecticut Sun Center, Tina Charles, received the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award from the WNBA on Wednesday.
Charles is honored with the prize for the second time in his career. She also won in 2012, the year she was appointed MVP of the WNBA. The price, named after the southern Caroline coach and the legend of the WNBA, Dawn Staley, pays tribute to a WNBA player who best illustrates the characteristics of a community leader where they work or live.
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Charles, 36, founded the Hopey Heart Foundation in 2013 in honor of his deceased aunt, Maureen “Hopey” Vaz, to raise awareness of sudden cardiac arrest. Charles will reach an important step this year, placing the 500th Automated external defibrillator (AED) through its foundation.
“Thanks to my mother at a young age, I learned that the importance of being a servant towards others, and receiving the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Prize is really special for me – especially for the Hopey Coeur Foundation to receive this honor thanks to his work to raise awareness of a sudden cardiac arrest,” said Charles. “I started the foundation in April 2013 and I never thought that its impact would take place so largely. I am grateful to all those who supported the foundation along the way. ”
Charles also launched Hopey’s Week, a series of sports clinics focused on concussions and awareness of injuries in New York. She was also a vocal defender of racial and social justice, using his platform to raise the voices of the community and put pressure for a systemic change.
“Throughout her remarkable career, Tina has always used her platform to raise awareness and lead to significant changes,” said WNBA commissioner Cathy Engelbert. “Its dedication to service, advocacy and restore it to the community reflects the values that define our league. Tina continues to build a heritage that will inspire the generations to come.”
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An appointed committee has selected Charles as a winner of the Dawn Staley Community Leadership Prize. The WNBA will make a donation of $ 10,000 to Charles’ Charitable Foundation, Hopey’s Heart Foundation.
Charles returned to the team that drafted him in 2010, The Sun, this season. It has an average of 16.5 points and 5.9 rebounds.
This article originally appeared on USA Today: Sun Center Tina Charles Winds Dawn Staley Community Leadership Award
