Magic’s Wendell Carter wins 2022-23 Rich & Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award
The Orlando Magic on Saturday named Wendell Carter Jr. the winner of the 2022-23 Rich & Helen DeVos Community Enrichment Award — an award that honors a player for outstanding community service.
Carter, a first-time winner of the award, will be granted $25,000 from the DeVos Family Foundation to donate to the charity of his choice. Cole Anthony and Markelle Fultz, who won the award last year, were also finalists for this year’s award.
The award, which has usually been given out annually since 1995, was presented during the second Orlando Wine Festival and Auction benefiting the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation at the Ritz-Carlton Orlando, Grande Lakes.
A panel of representatives based the selection on the last year of the player’s community work.
“The legacy of our parents lives on through the great work in the Central Florida community by the entire Magic organization,” Magic chairman Dan DeVos said in a statement. “We congratulate Wendell as this year’s winner and look forward to the Magic’s continued commitment to the Orlando community.”
Carter was recently recognized by Orlando mayor Buddy Dyer with a City of Orlando Proclamation for his work in the community and was presented with the President Volunteer Service Award for his community service.
Among Carter’s work in the community during the 2022-23 season has been:
- Held a TopGolf Fundraiser to raise money for his family foundation, A Platform² Foundation, which assists underserved and underrepresented communities and families;
- Hosted and sponsored a turkey dinner distribution event along with the Magic to distribute 350 Thanksgiving dinners to underserved families;
- Hosted a holiday party for 65 local kids from the Boys to Men Mentoring organization;
- Adopted students in the STEM program at Oakridge High School;
The Orlando Wine Festival and Auction, which is the Magic’s signature fundraiser for the Orlando Magic Youth Foundation, debuted in 2019. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the event was canceled in 2020 and ‘21 and the community enrichment award wasn’t given either year.
This article first appeared on OrlandoSentinel.com. Email Khobi Price at khprice@orlandosentinel.com or follow him on Twitter at @khobi_price.
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