Spoelstra, Mourning and Hardaway Visit Haiti

View Photo Gallery

MIAMI, June 7 — Miami HEAT Head Coach Erik Spoelstra, HEAT Vice President, Player Programs Alonzo Mourning, and HEAT Community and Corporate Liaison Tim Hardaway made a one-day trip to Haiti on Saturday, June 5 to tour the country’s earthquake-affected areas. In addition, the HEAT presented a check for $25,000 to Project Medishare, a non-profit organization that provides free medical attention to the people of Haiti, to assist in their ongoing relief efforts. The check was presented at the Project Medishare/University of Miami Field Hospital at the Port-Au-Prince Airport upon the HEAT representatives’ arrival. The $25,000 donation was raised and earmarked for Project Medishare by the Miami HEAT Charitable Fund at the 13th Annual Miami HEAT Family Festival in March.

Spoelstra, Mourning, and Hardaway visited the hospital to hand out ShelterBoxes to 20 preselected families. Each ShelterBox contains a 10-person tent, blankets, water purification and cooking equipment, basic tools, a stove, and other essential equipment and provides the patients and their families with shelter and the basic necessities once they have recuperated and been discharged. The kits were donated by ShelterBox, a disaster relief charity which provides humanitarian aid worldwide in the form of shelter, warmth and dignity for people displaced by natural and other disasters.

Saturday’s was part of the HEAT’s ongoing support of Project Medishare’s Haiti relief efforts. In January, the HEAT held a three-week donation drive and shipped over 300 pallets of non-perishable food, water, clothing, and medical supplies, which were donated by the South Florida community. In addition, Mourning, along with HEAT guard Dwyane Wade, formed the “Athletes Relief Fund for Haiti”, which raised $1 million from a group of professional athletes to support relief efforts. In May, Wade participated in the first-ever NBA Cares Charity Challenge presented by State Farm®, in which the 2010 All-Star Game MVP helped raise $5,000 for Project Medishare. 

The Miami HEAT is proud to welcome Assist-Card as the Presenting Sponsor for the 2010-11 season.