Tina Charles, currently of the WNBA's New York Liberty, has been nominated as a finalist for ESPN's Sports Humanitarian of the Year Award. This award will be presented along with three other categories on July 12 in an awards dinner in Los Angeles. It will be broadcast on July 15 at 7 p.m. on ESPN.
Charles was nominated for the work of her charity, The Hopey's Heart Foundation, which donates money to schools and other community centers for the purchase of Automatic External Defibrillators (AEDs). AEDs can greatly increase survival from sudden cardiac arrests and other heart-related ailments.
The charity has furnished over 200 AEDs for schools and community centers worldwide. Charles has also partnered with FIBA Europe and AAU to change standards in order to give more access to AEDs.
Each finalist for the award received $25,000 in donations for being nominated. Brett Burns of the NHL's San Jose Sharks, Carlos Dunlap of the NFL's Cincinnati Bengals and Chris Paul of the NBA's Los Angeles Clippers are the other nominees.
The winner will receive $100,000 in grants for their charity.