The Balancing Act
The following segment aired on “The Balancing Act” on Lifetime Television. Joining the show was Alonzo Mourning to discuss his philanthropic efforts in Alonzo Mourning Charities.
The Balancing Act: Well, our next guest is a former professional basketball player who played most of his fifteen-year NBA career for your, my, everybody’s Miami Heat. His tenacity on defense twice earned him the NBA defensive player of the year award and placed him on the NBA All-defensive team. He made a comeback after undergoing a kidney transplant and later won his first NBA championship with the Heat. On March 30, 2009, he became the first Miami Heat player to have his number retired. This morning, “The Balancing Act” is honored to welcome Mr. Alonzo Mourning, better known as “Zo” to his fans. Good to see you, Zo.
Mourning: Nice to see you, too, Danielle.
The Balancing Act: I’m calling you “Mister,” but we have a little bit of a relationship here. We have known each other for many years, and you know what, I’ve done Zo’s Summer Groove and we’ll talk about that in a minute, but I remember you asked me to introduce the comedians. I go out onstage and I’ve never been nervous, but I was so nervous, ’cause, you know, comedians will crack on you.
Mourning: Right, no doubt.
The Balancing Act: They will crack on you in a minute.
Mourning: Especially a woman.
The Balancing Act: Especially a woman.
Mourning: If you’re not bringing the right way, they’ll find something wrong.
The Balancing Act: But luckily, I did bring it, but I was very nervous. Is there anything that makes Zo nervous, what makes you nervous?
Mourning: Well, now that I’m not playing basketball anymore, I’m retired from that, you know, the one thing that always made me nervous was injuries.
The Balancing Act: Ah!
Mourning: You know, because my body was my business, you know, and I wanted to do everything I could to keep my body as strong as possible so I could compete at the highest level. So I was always afraid of just being injured, because I always wanted to be on the court to help my team and injuries kept me from doing that.
The Balancing Act: You know, our audience, they know about all your professional accomplishments on the court but they really don’t know a lot about what you do off the court in terms of giving back. So I want to kind of talk a little bit about that side of Alonzo Mourning with our viewers. In 1997, you established Alonzo Mourning Charities to aid in the development of children and families living in at-risk situations and since then have been able to raise more than, what is it, $7 million?
Mourning: A little over $7 million we raised. You know, we’re all products of a community, all of us are, you know, and if it wasn’t for other individuals in our lives, we would—you would not be—I would not be in the position that I’m in today. You know, so we’re here because of somebody else’s contributions, and I’ve been fortunate enough, you know, to have a relationship with an amazing woman, my wife, Tracy Mourning. We were able to establish this foundation and we created this foundation, A.M. Charities, and our focus was to provide educational opportunities, you know, ’cause you know and I know—where would we be without knowledge? Where would we be without literacy skills? You know, you can’t survive in this world without being able to communicate accordingly; that’s extremely important for us to plant those seeds in our children’s lives at an early age, so they can establish those educational habits so they can aspire to explore higher learning. You know, and I try to stress that importance to all the young people that we assist in the whole process, through my wife’s foundation, the Honey Shine Mentoring Program, which helps mentor young girls, and inspire and enrich.
The Balancing Act: Tell me a little bit more about that—and I know that this is something that’s near and dear to both you and Tracy—and it’s a phenomenal organization because it really helps these young girls become women. And I think that’s such an important thing, especially, Zo, in this day and age when you see all of these images on TV and all of these images out there, and to have this organization that’s kind of saying “You don’t have to zig, you can zag.”
Mourning: The Honey Shine Mentoring Program is just one component, one program under the umbrella of Alonzo Mourning Charities. But the young women that benefit from my wife’s program, her workshops, and what have you—and for all the men that’s watching, you know, we wouldn’t be here without a woman in our lives, you know, a strong female presence in our lives, we would not be here, you know, without those female influences, you know. So it’s important for us to continue to try to provide all we can, not just for our young people, for our young women that are dealing with so many challenging issues currently and especially in this day and time and with social networking and what have you. You know, and just how women are being portrayed and what have you; so many good things need to be enforced in these young women’s lives, and that needs to be heard from other strong women. So my wife has all these volunteers from all over the community, and I’m sure you’ve gone to a couple of workshops, as well.
The Balancing Act: Yes.
Mourning: Just being able to communicate to these young girls and provide all the information necessary for them to be successful and continue to take steps forward.
The Balancing Act: I know that your big initiative right now is “Sponsor a Student.” I cannot tell you how amazing I think this is. Tell our viewers about it.
Mourning: We have a program in the Overtown area—an area where about three thousand kids are in the school system in this area; two out of twelve graduate from high school in this area. Our program, the Overtown Youth Center, was built by a local philanthropist by the name of Martin Margulies. We’re at capacity with two hundred seventy-five kids, young girls and young boys. We address all the needs and all the obstacles and address all the deficiencies that a child may have that might keep a child from just walking through the doors of a school and walking across that stage with a diploma in their hand. In the eight years that we’ve been there, a hundred percent of our kids graduate from high school coming out of that program and a hundred percent of our kids go off to college. We’re very pleased with the outcomes.
The Balancing Act: If you live in South Florida, there is one thing that we look forward to every year, which is Zo’s summer groove and it is a lot of fun, but again, it all centers on philanthropy. There’s so much stuff going on, but you make it fun as well. There are a lot of celebrities that come out. I know you’ve got a lot of things for the kids. Tell us, tell our viewers about it. It’s a three-day event, right?
Mourning: The groove is a three day community event where we have a concert, a dinner, a golf tournament, workshops for the kids, a youth summit, things of that nature—you know, a community based event where everybody in the community has an opportunity to come out, support an event, a charity event. And it has something for everybody in the family to enjoy and know that they’re giving back to our community and know that they’re helping young people, you know, because all the proceeds will go towards our efforts towards educating the kids at the Overtown Youth Center and at the Honey Shine Mentoring Program. So this weekend allows the community to come out—a festive weekend—enjoy themselves, have a good time, and know that their efforts are going towards a great cause.
The Balancing Act: That’s amazing. Alonzo Mourning, amazing philanthropist, amazing NBA player, amazing husband, and amazing father— thank you so much for hanging out with me and talking to me. This has just been so enlightening and I’m just so proud of your wife’s efforts and your efforts and everything that you’re doing to help our children, really, such an important cause, pleasure to see you again.
Mourning: The pleasure’s all mine, thanks for having me.
The Balancing Act: And for more information on Alonzo or to learn more about any of the charities that he’s involved in, we want you to check out the website. It’s www.amcharities.org.
The Balancing Act is the only morning show in America produced by women specifically for women. Every morning, The Balancing Act on Lifetime hosts Danielle Knox and Kristy Villa tackle the issues that face today’s woman. Popular show segments include live weather updates with Mark Mancuso, surprise celebrity visitors, and news about the latest trends affecting your life, home, career and family. The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television airs daily on Lifetime at 7 a.m. ET/PT. For more information, visit The Balancing Act on Lifetime Television’s website at www.thebalancingact.com.
