Parramore youth center gets new look
Orlando SentinelJuly 30, 2008
June 30, 2008
By Linda Florea
The Orlando Magic, Kia Motors and Cotter Ryan Construction, along with volunteers, recently remodeled the New Image Youth Center on South Parramore Avenue in Orlando.
In March, the Magic donated $10,000 to purchase educational resources.
The New Image Youth Center is the idea of 26-year-old Shantae Stubbs, who founded the center in 2004 to provide a place where children could go after school to seek guidance and educational assistance. Stubbs, a master’s student, works full time to pay the building’s rent out of her own pocket, which is roughly $1,700 a month.
“I commit to you that the Orlando Magic, not just over the next year or two, but as we become permanent residents of this immediate neighborhood, we will continue to be a good neighbor,” said Alex Martins, Orlando Magic chief operating officer. “To revitalize Parramore, to find opportunities for our youth, and to find opportunities like the New Image Youth Center, to reinvigorate this community.”
The Orlando Magic already renovated the downtown Boys & Girls Club and pledged $250,000 to the Parramore Kidz Zone Program.
In addition, when Magic forward Hedo Turkoglu received the NBA’s Most Improved Player Award presented by Kia Motors, he donated a new 2009 Kia Borrego seven-passenger SUV to the Parramore Kidz Zone. In another endeavor with adidas, Dwight Howard presented 300 pairs of shoes to the students at Orange Center Elementary.