Carmelo Anthony’s ‘15 on the 15th Initiative’

It is my goal this year to interview Carmelo Anthony. I mean, come on Melo, how much love I gotta give before I get some back? Don’t make me camp out in front of ‘Studio 51,’ because if I could, I would-especially on Thursdays. And it wouldn’t be in efforts of just a chance meeting with you, it would be to see your work-product. And by ‘work-product’ I mean happy people. Happy-needy-people to be exact.

Melo, through his aptly named Carmelo Cares Foundation, is giving away free haircuts to 15 Denver residents in need. Calling it his ’15 on the 15th’ program, the initiative utilizes Carmelo’s Studio 15 barbershop to provide haircuts to disadvantaged children and underserved adults.

On the 15th day of each month, 15 kids or adults from a community group are chosen by Melo’s Foundation to receive free haircuts at Studio 15. Most recently, folks in need from the Family Resource Center, Denver Children’s Home and Excelsior Youth Center have all benefited from the first three events this year. If you’d like to support the “15 on the 15th” program by sponsoring a month in 2009, please contact the Carmelo Anthony Foundation via email at info@CarmeloCares.org for more details.

And I’ve gotta take a minute to give thanks to the amazing team from Maroon Public Relations. They’re the ones who secure sponsors as well as spread the love about Melo’s latest charitable endeavors.

In the latest edition of Maroon PR’s ‘Insider eNewsletter’ they did a quick 5 question Q&A with the Nuggets Director of Media Relations, Eric Sebastian. For obvious reasons, I chose to reprint one of the questions…

Maroon PR Asked:  It seems that the media’s focus, at times, is strictly on a professional athlete’s game performance, and less on the positive impact they have on the community out-of-uniform. How do you think more attention can be brought to an athlete’s philanthropic efforts, especially in a market like Denver that has a team in each of the four major sports?

Eric Sebastian Answered:  “Well, I think a good deal of the burden rests on the players. The player really needs to be committed to his community. He can’t be half-hearted in his efforts or just think that attaching his name to something is going to bring him recognition. He can also go a long way towards getting the media to cover his philanthropic efforts if he has a good rapport with them. As a PR person, I can only do so much. I can bring attention to programs a player is involved in, but if he doesn’t appear to be genuine about it or if the player doesn’t treat the media with respect, they aren’t going to do him any favors by covering him. There are just too many other athletes in Denver that the media can choose to cover. (Los Angeles Clippers center) Marcus Camby was as adept at this as anyone I’ve worked with. He made time for the media every day – win or lose – and was incredibly involved in the programs he started through his foundation. As a result, the events he did for his foundation received a great deal of coverage and his image was impeccable in town.”

As always, thanks for reading. Delinda@athlebrities.com