Aug. 21, 2007
Charleston, S.C. – South Carolina head baseball coach Ray Tanner will be honored in a pre-game ceremony on Tuesday, Aug. 21 at Joe Riley Stadium before the scheduled game between the Charleston River Dogs and the Columbia Catfish at 7:05 p.m. Tanner will receive the EP Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award on Disability Awareness Night, sponsored by Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Company in cooperation with Exceptional Parent Magazine and the South Carolina Agency.
Disability Awareness Night honors the contributions of 54 million Americans with disabilities, their families and caregivers. Tanner is entering his 12th year as head coach of The University of South Carolina baseball team. He is chairman of the Ray Tanner Foundation; a non-profit organization dedicated to the betterment of economically and medically disadvantaged children and their families. Tanner and his wife Karen started the Foundation in 2005. The Foundation gave $30,000 in grants in its first year of existence. They are raising money through the sale of “Ray of Hope” wristbands to build a Miracle League baseball field in the Columbia, S.C. area. The field is specially designed for children with disabilities and will give them a chance of playing baseball.
In addition to honoring local champions of the national awareness campaign to bring attention to the 54 million Americans with disabilities and special needs, the event will provide an opportunity for many clients and staff of local disability organizations to attend the ballgame, thanks to free tickets donated by Exceptional Parent and The South Carolina Agency of MassMutual.
“Given MassMutual’s longtime support of people with disabilities and other special needs and their families, we are extremely proud to be calling attention to their cause through our sponsorship and participation in the Disability Awareness Night program,” said Nick Gavalas, General Agent, The South Carolina Agency, and Co-Founder of the Gavalas-Kolanko Foundation, a public charity established to help students with disabilities reach their secondary educational goals. “MassMutual’s SpecialCare SM program helps parents and caregivers effectively integrate financial analysis into a thorough, customized life plan for individuals with special needs. Our goal, and the goal of those we will honor, is to help people with disabilities to live dignified and fulfilling lives.”
The EP Maxwell J. Schleifer Distinguished Service Award is named for the late founder and former editor-in-chief of Exceptional Parent who was an advocate for people with disabilities and other special needs. Exceptional Parent is the nation’s oldest and most widely read and referred to publication of its kind, reaching a wide audience of physicians, nurses, therapists, teachers and families involved in the care and development of children and adults with disabilities and special health care needs.
This year marks the sixth year of Exceptional Parent’s Disability Awareness Night (DAN) program, which began in 2002 with the cooperation of the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox. Since then, many professional ball clubs have joined the unique, emotional and powerful program of recognition and awareness.
