Sunday, December 20, 2009

Vlade Divac, Global Basketball Ambassador and Tireless Philanthropist, Awarded Ellis Island Medal of Honor

Vlade Divac, afresh retired NBA All-Star and accepted advance with the Los Angeles Lakers, whose achievements off the cloister are as absorbing as those he had on the court, was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor on May 13, 2006. According to National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations, "The Ellis Island Medals of Honor pay accolade to the ancestor groups that comprise America's different cultural mosaic."

-- Vlade Divac, afresh retired NBA All-Star and accepted advance with the Los Angeles Lakers, whose achievements off the cloister are as absorbing as those he had on the court, was awarded the Ellis Island Medal of Honor on May 13, 2006. The National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations awards the badge to outstanding American citizens who abide a activity committed to association service, announcement American values, and architecture bridges amid aboriginal communities active aural the United States and abroad. According to NECO, "The Ellis Island Medals of Honor pay accolade to the ancestor groups that comprise America's different cultural mosaic."

"I was actual accustomed and ashamed to be included into such a acclaimed accumulation of medalists. Receiving the Ellis Island Medal of Honor was one of the highlights of my activity and I absolutely plan to accord to this abundant nation for abounding years to come. I would like to acknowledge all the immigrants who enabled my ancestors to abide in this country as able-bodied as all Serbian humans whom I had a adventitious to proudly represent at this admirable event. " - Vlade Divac, Los Angeles Lakers

Divac, who was complete in Yugoslavia (presently Serbia and Montenegro), was a allotment of the aboriginal Eastern European immigrants to be drafted into the NBA if he was called as a first-round aces by the Los Angeles Lakers in 1989. Divac accustomed himself as one of the a lot of able centers in the league, abutting basketball greats Hakeen Olajuwon and Kareem Abdul-Jabar as the alone players to aggregate 13,000 points, 9,000 rebounds and 1,500 blocked shots. His ablaze career, which spanned from 1989 until 2005, was active in paving the way for the beachcomber of accomplished European immigrants who abide to accomplish their attendance acquainted in the NBA.

Divac is the cofounder of The Group Seven Children's Foundation(www.groupseven.org), an alignment committed to acceptable accouchement who accept been displaced and bankrupt due to the breach up of a nation. The accumulation has aloft added than $2 actor dollars for altruistic projects accompanying to its cause. Divac has been active in authoritative apartment accessible to accouchement and their families in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia, accouterment books and classroom advisory abstracts to accouchement in Ethiopia and alms emergency aid including diapers, water, and added capital abetment to survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the United States.

Divac's added accomplishments include:

 

    Establishing computer acquirements centers in Serbia-Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina that brought acceptance afar by war calm through a computer-based curriculum; Making new apartment accessible to accouchement and their families in tsunami-ravaged Indonesia; Providing books and classroom advisory abstracts to accouchement in Ethiopia; Delivering accouterment sets to accouchement active in refugee shelters in Serbia; Offering emergency aid including diapers, water, and added capital abetment to survivors of Hurricane Katrina in the United States; Distributing school-supply kits and winter shoes to accouchement in Montenegro; Supporting afterwards academy programs in the Sacramento, California area. Delivering aliment accoutrements to refugee families in Serbia; Training elementary academy accouchement in Serbia's eight better cities in the basics of dental hygiene.
    His altruistic plan has becoming Divac boundless recognition, including the NBA's Citizenship Award, Sporting News "Good Guys" Award, the "Good Samaritan" Award from International Orthodox Christian Charities and a Medal of Merit from the Serbian Unity Congress. Divac aswell serves as a United Nations "Goodwill Ambassador" and has alternate in the NBA's "Basketball Without Borders" initiative.

    At the May 13th ceremony, Divac's table was the a lot of visited by account organizations and adolescent accident attendees. Dignitaries, adolescent nominees, and others clamored to babble with the seven-foot-one-inch superstar amateur and philanthropist. Also at Divac's table was Mira Zivkovich, who nominated Divac for the award. Zivkovich is the CEO and Founder of MZI Global Marketing (www.mziglobal.com), a close that specializes in allowance companies affix to aboriginal consumers active aural the United States. MZI actively promotes cultural achievements and the amount of assortment in America and is aswell amenable for nominating one of endure year's recipients, Serbian-American agent Thomas Stankovich.

    At the black-tie affair, Divac was accustomed alongside adolescent awardees that included Tom Ridge, Former Homeland Security Director; Rita Cosby, Host of MSNBC's "Live & Direct;" and allegorical entertainers Siegfried & Roy. In the past, above Presidents Bill Clinton, George Bush, Ronald Reagan, Jimmy Carter, Gerald Ford, and Richard Nixon accept been awarded the celebrated Medal, as accept added beaming accessible abstracts such as General Colin Powell, Frank Sinatra, Donald Trump, Lee Iacocca and Barbara Walters.
    Two Serbians, Among 100 Recipients, are Awarded the 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor
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