:: Spotlight
Quarterbacks for Community: Doug Flutie salutes Urban Scholars and other charities
Heisman Trophy winner Doug Flutie stands with Joan Becker,
vice provost, Chancellor J. Keith Motley, PhD and Richard Holbrook,
CEO of Eastern Bank at the Bank's Community Quarterback Awards held March 25th.
By Nanette L. Cormier
On March 24, UMass Boston hosted representatives from more than 40 Eastern Massachusetts charities at Eastern Bank’s fifth annual Community Quarterback Awards in the Campus Center. The event, which pays tribute to the organizations which received grants from the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, also honored the university’s Urban Scholars Program as one of its grant recipients.
In welcoming the guests, Chancellor Keith Motley spoke to the significance of the bank’s charitable giving during the current economic recession. “Your contributions to our community are a ‘Hail Mary’ pass,” he said, referencing the bank spokesperson and former NFL quarterback Doug Flutie who was on hand for the award presentations.
UMass Vice Provost Joan Becker, co-founder of the Urban Scholars Program, adeptly caught the “Flutie Pass” from the legendary Heisman Trophy winner. This years marks the pre-collegiate program’s 25th anniversary of preparing 1,500 high achieving Boston Public Schools students, predominantly from minority and low-income backgrounds, for the life-changing opportunity of a college education.
Each year Eastern Bank selects one of its grant recipients as the site to showcase the importance of community philanthropy. Eastern Bank Chairman and CEO, Richard Holbrook, said that the charities represented are all “quarterbacks” in the community, especially as we go through a recession and see so many people hurting. “They rely more and more on the agencies in the room to give them a leg up on the future.”
He added his gratitude for UMass Boston for hosting the occasion, and hoped that the attendees would “realize the university’s unbelievable facility and the great work that UMass Boston is doing.”
The ever youthful appearing Flutie, now in his mid-forties, said that the Eastern Bank Charitable Foundation, a key sponsor of the Doug Flutie, Jr. Foundation for Autism, mirrors his family’s own commitment. Ten years old, the foundation raises over $1 million a year through special events. Its mission focuses on providing families with a place to turn when they are in need of support and autism resources. Flutie, Jr., now seventeen, was diagnosed with autism at the age of three.
Each of the participating charities, either “caught” or more safely “received” their Flutie pass and posed with the football star and CEO Holbrook. Diane Portroy, founder of the Immigrant Learning Center in Malden was one of them. Eastern Bank support allows her organization to offer free English classes to immigrants and refugees. Portroy arrived on Ellis Island at the age of three as a Holocaust refugee.
Special Olympics Massachusetts Board Chair, Geoffrey Nothnangle received his football with his son, Jay who has Down Syndrome. Jay grinned with his football, stepped up to the mike, and shared that he is an international gold medalist in sailing.
Retired minister Rev. Dick Coleman, a volunteer for Habitat for Humanity Plymouth was honored for his organization’s work to build homes in Massachusetts, Louisiana, and El Salvador. “I’ve spent my life focused on ‘words’ and I’m never certain that my words are making a difference. Habitat gives me a concrete chance to help someone.”
Chancellor Motley captured the spirit of the event saying, “Some folks say that this is not the time to invest in our community. We say charitable contributions are more vital than ever.”