It’s one thing to be a notablelegend of the National BasketballAssociation, but it’s another tohonor that title by becoming astaple in the community thathas embraced your career alongthe way. Luckily for George “TheIceman” Gervin, he has beenable to achieve success in hiscareer as well as in his personalventures. He has managed tobuild a thriving youth centerthat has helped at–risk peoplefrom infants to senior citizensin San Antonio since 1988.
As the George Gervin YouthCenter continues to grow andflourish, the need to buildadditional buildings andprograms calls for the fundsto supplement the efforts.Therefore, on Saturday, March21, Gervin is hosting the GeorgeGervin Celebrity Roast that willbenefit a Capital ExpansionCampaign to make the futureplans possible.
We sat down with Gervin, whoshared with us his hopes for thefuture of the Youth Center, andhis upcoming fundraiser, whichis sure to be a legendary event.
WHAT IS THE GEORGE GERVINYOUTH CENTER AND WHO DOES ITSERVE?
The GGYC serves the community and kidsin San Antonio from newborn to adults upto 22 years old. It is a program with a strongfocus on education. I have a lot of programsin the San Antonio area that I’m truly proudof and I have a great staff of about 100 peoplethat make all of these programs possible.There are seven components to the programincluding a Basic Center, a ComprehensiveYouth Development Center, a TechnologyCenter, a Daycare Center, a Transitional LivingProgram, the Newell Retirement PlazaApartments and The George Gervin Academy.
BASIC CENTER
The Basic Center assists pregnant teenagegirls by providing housing and educationduring their pregnancy. Many of them arerunaways, so this is a safe place for the girls.
Comprehensive Youth Development Centerand Technology Center
This program serves older teens that havebeen out of school. Since the kids are olderand are working and/or have children, wedesigned a specific program at the technologycenter. The program has two sessions – onein the morning and the other in the afternoon– that makes it convenient for the students tofinish school and graduate.
DAYCARE CENTER
We have a daycare because a lot of ourstudents have babies and were not able to goto school because they needed to watch theirkids. This center provides them with that assistancewhile they focus on their education.
TRANSITIONAL LIVING CENTER
In this program, we help young adults(many of them our students) become selfsufficient.We provide them with a chance tohave their own apartment and we give themthe tools necessary to succeed in importantareas of their lives through community connections,life skills, education, employmentand housing.
NEWELL RETIREMENT PLAZA
We feel that it is very important for ouryoung kids to be around these experiencedadults. The wisdom that the seniors provide isamazing. I recognized a long time ago that itis our responsibility as adults to teach youngadults a better way and to guide them, sothat’s why we have the retirement center.
THE GEORGE GERVIN ACADEMY
The academy is our charter school thatserves grades Pre–K to 4th and 9th to 12thgrades. With the help of our Capital ExpansionCampaign, the school will be addinggrades 5th and 6th during school year 2009–2010 and grades 7th and 8th in 2010–2011.
WHY ARE YOU SO COMMITTED TOTHE YOUTH IN OUR COMMUNITY?
I know how important the value of educationis. It is important to build a youngperson’s independence and confidence. Youknow, I’m from Detroit, but my career washere in San Antonio, so this is my way ofgiving back. Once I retired, I teamed up withmy sister Barbara Hawkins. She wanted to doan adult program, but I told her that I didn’twant to do anything unless it involved kids.So that’s how we came up with the GeorgeGervin Youth Center. We have to continueto let our kids know that education has to betheir No. 1 priority. I always tell them they’vegot two ways to do their one to 12 – in theeducational system or in jail. The reason I reallystarted this program is to help our babies.
WHAT ARE THE FUTURE PLANS OFTHE GEORGE GERVIN YOUTH CENTER?
We want to expand. Right now we are in acapital campaign to raise money to get intothe health and wellness field. We have plansto build the George Gervin Fitness and WellnessCenter to address the various issues withhealth, nutrition, high blood pressure anddiabetes in the San Antonio community, notonly with our teens, but also with our elderly.The center will actually be open to the publicfor the community’s use so we really want toprovide citizens opportunities for a healthierlife. In order to provide these programs, weneed help to fund this cause of fitness andwellness.
WHAT SHOULD PEOPLE EXPECT ATTHE GEORGE GERVIN CELEBRITYROAST?
Well, I think that people who are coming tothe roast are really going to have a wonderfultime. I have a lot of my friends who playedwith me and against me in the ABA andNBA coming to San Antonio to help me raisemoney for my expansion with the GeorgeGervin Fitness and Wellness Center. Guys likeBill Russell, Clyde Drexler, Moses Malone,Julius Erving, Rick Barry, Artis Gilmore andmany others are willing to donate their timeto roast me for this special cause.
This is another opportunity for me to raisemoney for my new venture with my Fitnessand Wellness Center. I’m hoping that a lot ofpeople in our community and outside of ourcommunity come out and support me and mycenter for what we’re doing and what we’retrying to do in the future with our center.
WHOSE ROAST ARE YOU LOOKINGFORWARD TO?
All of these guys will have some prettyfunny things to say about Ice. I’ve know allof these guys for a long time and we all playgolf together all of the time. They are reallypersonable people. I know they’ll be willing todo whatever it takes to help me raise moneyfor the future of my center and for the SanAntonio community.
WHY SHOULD PEOPLE SUPPORTYOUR PROGRAM AND THE CELEBRITYROAST?
I know that we are going through sometough economic times and people have to bea bit more selective when it comes to whatthey can support, but the difference is I haveseven programs that I’m addressing that helpa lot of kids.
My program gives that longevity and securityto help kids. It continues to stay with ayoung person. When I go out in the community,I see kids who have graduated from theprogram and succeeded. Even parents comeup to me and tell me their kid was struggling,but the program really took their child to thenext level. And now, this is the time to expandand grow my program to tackle another issue,fitness and wellness.
I can only hope and pray that people comeout and help me raise money for this cause.My babies need your help.
