US retired skaters most philanthropic?

[skateluvr]

Asking about a famous wealthy skater made me wonder which skaters do the most for charities? I realize we don't have tax returns like with the PEOTUS but I am guessing it's those who became rich in the nineties like Scott, Kristi, Eldridge, Weiss, Nancy, Oksana, Wylie, Gordeeva, Tara, Kulik and others. I know Yuna is very wealthy and people say she does a lot for many charities but I am asking for info on retired US skaters.

I am guessing Hamilton. Boitano, Button are very well off and as for ladies I add Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill to list but she did write about how her second husband swindled her. So she had to keep working. I'm just wondering what people know. I am aware Victor Petrenko years ago tried to help people a lot in native Ukraine though he lives in Ct. He may be a us citizen I don't know.

 

[mrrice]

Wow, this is actually a great question. The skaters I can think of off the top of my head are, Tai Babilonia and Brian Boitano. I remember Tai became quite well known for her Butterfly Pins and other Jewelry. I'm sure you've all seen Brian's TV Show on the Food Network called "What would Brian Boitano Make" Patrick hasn't retired yet but, doesn't he deserve credit for his Ice Wine?

Here's a commercial from Brian's Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cdcNORgbXE

 

[Krunchii]

Wow, this is actually a great question. The skaters I can think of off the top of my head are, Tai Babilonia and Brian Boitano. I remember Tai became quite well known for her Butterfly Pins and other Jewelry. I'm sure you've all seen Brian's TV Show on the Food Network called "What would Brian Boitano Make" Patrick hasn't retired yet but, doesn't he deserve credit for his Ice Wine?

Here's a commercial from Brian's Show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2cdcNORgbXE

Well Patrick isn't exactly American but his Ice Wine isn't a philanthropic endeavor, more like a side business. In terms of charity however he's done a lot for Chinese-Canadians for the One Half Chinese Stem Cell Initiative and is a registered stem cell donor. As far as I know he's still the face for it, there are university chapters for this charity and they get promotional material with his face on it. I know it's possible to book him to talk on behalf of the charity but it hasn't happened in recent years because he's too busy training and mostly lives in the US.

 

[concorde]

Michael Weiss should rank high due to his foundation whose intent is to fund figure skaters who show potential but whose families are not super wealthy.

I know that Michelle Kwan and Ashley Wagner received funding from the MWF. Last I checked, his webpage listed many more recepticants.

I know that due to a schedule conflict there was no show this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed for one next year.

 

[mrrice]

Michael Weiss should rank high due to his foundation whose intent is to fund figure skaters who show potential but whose families are not super wealthy.

I know that Michelle Kwan and Ashley Wagner received funding from the MWF. Last I checked, his webpage listed many more recepticants.

I know that due to a schedule conflict there was no show this year. I am keeping my fingers crossed for one next year.

I remember Ricky thanking Michael's foundation during the K&C at Nationals in 2014. This isn't the best copy but, you can Ricky thank the MWF while he's waiting for his marks.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cjMDghOETe8

 

[Mathman]

Scott Hamilton does quite a lot with his Scott Cares cancer research program. He and the Stars on Ice crew have also done benefits for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. A number of current skaters do the Harvard show and many others that rise money for charitable causes.

Here in Detroit, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto organized benefit shows for the victims of natural catastrophes a coouple of times that were quite successful on a smaller scale. Meryl Davis just announced the launching of a Detroit chapter of Figure Skating in Harlem, which many current and former skaters support (for instance, Maia and Alex Shibutani). Kristi Yamaguchi has her "Always Dream Foundation," but I don't think it is as active right now as it was in the past.

I am sure there is a lot of charitable giving done privately or even anonymously. (Although, if you run a charity and a well-known athlete makes a donation, you don't want it to be anonymous. You want it to be advertised with fanfare so that other people will wan to chip it. )

 

[Crossover]

Scott Hamilton does quite a lot with his Scott Cares cancer research program. He and the Stars on Ice crew have also done benefits for St. Jude's Children's Hospital. A number of current skaters do the Harvard show and many others that rise money for charitable causes.

Here in Detroit, Tanith Belbin and Ben Agosto organized benefit shows for the victims of natural catastrophes a coouple of times that were quite successful on a smaller scale. Meryl Davis just announced the launching of a Detroit chapter of Figure Skating in Harlem, which many current and former skaters support (for instance, Maia and Alex Shibutani). Kristi Yamaguchi has her "Always Dream Foundation," but I don't think it is as active right now as it was in the past.

I am sure there is a lot of charitable giving done privately or even anonymously. (Although, if you run a charity and a well-known athlete makes a donation, you don't want it to be anonymous. You want it to be advertised with fanfare so that other people will wan to chip it. )

https://www.alwaysdream.org/ Seems like still active according to the site although it may be done in a small scale.

 

[brightphoton]

Dorothy Hamill doesn't have as much money to give out nowdays. In her youth, the Ice Capades had business shenanigans. More recently she had breast cancer, and I'm sure those hospital bills took a lot of her money. I saw Dorothy on an infomercial that sold stationary bicycles. Hey, gotta pay the bills.

She had started up a program called I-Skate which is for children with physical disabilities who learn to skate. It lasted about 5 years, but it seems like it's not active anymore. Or it might be active, but she's not directly involved with it.

Now she's a paid spokesperson called Be Wiser, which encourages women with breast cancer to get tested for a gene or something, in hopes that they can get a certain type of breast cancer treatment. It's something that blocks estrogen. Or maybe increases it? Ummm, I don't know, but it helped her breast cancer and she's hoping it will help other people's breast cancer.
She's getting paid by the company that makes the genetic tests, so I wouldn't put this under charity or philanthropic work. But she meets with a lot of breast cancer survivors, so at least those are good deeds.

 

[andromache]

I imagine skaters from countries other than the US (such as Russia and Japan) have more opportunities for philanthropy than US skaters. Skating is far more popular in those countries than the US, so the topic should really be inclusive of all skaters, IMO. Probably Canadian skaters also. But I would assume that especially Japanese skaters like Mao and Yuzu are able to donate a lot to charity even though they aren't retired.

US skating philanthropy is probably very hurt by the lack of pro-skating circuit.

 

[mrrice]

I imagine skaters from countries other than the US (such as Russia and Japan) have more opportunities for philanthropy than US skaters. Skating is far more popular in those countries than the US, so the topic should really be inclusive of all skaters, IMO. Probably Canadian skaters also. But I would assume that especially Japanese skaters like Mao and Yuzu are able to donate a lot to charity even though they aren't retired.

US skating philanthropy is probably very hurt by the lack of pro-skating circuit.

This is true. Maria Butyrskaya was the representative for a line of energy bracelets but I don't know what they were called, Trymax.https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/...pHR_KrQGq-UVpedxyQJbK70FToQyJLhRi95trDe1Wkley

Those Eyes.....

 

[CoyoteChris]

....I am sure there is a lot of charitable giving done privately or even anonymously. (Although, if you run a charity and a well-known athlete makes a donation, you don't want it to be anonymous. You want it to be advertised with fanfare so that other people will wan to chip it. )

I am sure you are right. Scott Hamilton is a very nice person and puts up with us fans (which makes him a saint!) ...but when you have $30 mil and people know you give to charities, you are going to get everyone and his dog after you to donate to their charity. I would imagine he does give to quite a few but I an understand wanting to be anonymous on many....

 

[andromache]

BTW, as someone who lives in the northeast Ohio area with a mother-with-cancer who gets treatment at the Cleveland Clinic, Scott Hamilton's name is on a lot of stuff there. I'm not a fan of Scott Hamilton the commentator, but he gives a lot back to where he came from (i.e., his name being on a lot of the stuff at the Cleveland Clinic related to cancer.)

As skating snobs who once went to one of Scott's benefit shows, we made fun of how bad the skating was in comparison to competitive skating...but that's because my mother and I come from families where we sneer at sentimentality.

TLDR: Scott Hamilton does things even though I don't like to admit it.

 

[shyne]

Skaters outside US do tons of philanthropic work with/without tax deduction. They just don't get the same media coverage.

 

[CoyoteChris]

Skaters outside US do tons of philanthropic work with/without tax deduction. They just don't get the same media coverage.

I would imagine. In the US, it seems at times that everything is marketing/media driven. When the Team Challege Cup was here last Spring, Skaters visited a local Children's hospital, to the delight of the kids.
The media filmed it and aired it on the local news with one of the goals being to market the event. But that doesnt take away from the good the skaters like Jason Brown, Adam and Ashley, and Gracie Gold, etc did for a few hours
of their time...here is a gallery of pics...
http://www.spokesman.com/galleries/2016/apr/21/us-figure-skaters-visit-sacred-heart-childrens-hos/

 

[skateluvr]

I don't hear much about Kerrigan anymore. She's listed as a very rich skater but I think she used to maybe still does support blindness charities because of her mom.