If Vanessa Hughes and her NBA star son Larry Hughes hadn’t experienced the loss of a son and little brother to disease, they would still be helping others through their hardships.
But because they intricately know the emotional and financial hardship associated with caring for her late son Justin Hughes, who died in 2006, she and Larry teamed up to ease the burden for others in similar situations.
In 2000, they started the Larry Hughes Family Foundation. The organization assists families of organ donors and recipients with financial and emotional support and joins forces with existing groups in an effort to educate the public on the importance of organ and tissue donation.
The foundation’s annual fundraiser, Casino Night, is from 7 p.m. to midnight, Saturday, August 9 at the Hilton Ballpark Hotel, Downtown.
This year marks the third anniversary of Casino Night. Before, the foundation presented celebrity bowling events, luncheons and fashion shows.
As a basketball mom and caregiver of a son born with a defective heart, Vanessa Hughes knows all about teamwork, but today’s foundation has championed “the individual.”
That’s because Hughes experienced being denied financial and personal assistance from organizations because many of them only gave money to other organizations instead of individuals.
“When things got really tight, I would look for charities to help with things like gas and electric bills, but everybody would say they ‘don’t help individuals,’” Vanessa said.
“There was nothing out there to help individuals with things like utilities, rent and medicine, so those are things you don’t think you can go to an organization and get,” she said.
But they’ve been available since the onset of the Larry Hughes Family Foundation.
“It makes me feel good to pick up the phone and say, ‘I can help you,’” Vanessa said of assisting individuals.
She points out that she isn’t just someone behind a desk with vicarious experience, because she was once that person on the other end of the phone. Her reward is people’s appreciation.
Hughes, like his mother, is also a humanitarian.
“Larry has the gift of giving,” Vanessa said. “He knows how blessed we are, so he would have – as he has always done – given to some charity,” Vanessa said of her son, who now plays with the Chicago Bulls.
“I like being able to help – it makes you feel good to know someone got bills paid or were able to go see the doctor they want,” Larry told NBA.com when he played for the Washington Wizards.
Hughes, a guard and versatile threat, went to the NBA to help his family in 1998 after playing one year for Saint Louis University. He went in the first round, eighth overall, in the 1998 NBA draft.
He started his career with the Philadelphia 76ers. From there, he ran with the Golden State Warriors, Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers before signing on with the Bulls.
Larry scored a $60-million contract with the Cavaliers in the summer of 2005.
Vanessa said she’s happy that Larry is now in Chicago, a short flight away from St. Louis, where his family is.
It’s also close to where he co-owns the Sky Box Sports Bar with Nelly, Marshal Faulk and NBAer Darius Miles.
Though Vanessa runs the foundation, her real job, she said, is chief financial officer of Larry’s Hughes Promotions, LLC. She acts as liaison between him and his accountants, attorneys and other business dealings.
She handles business well, but still has a big heart.
“I’m learning so much from her, she’s so knowledgeable and patient and she just has a good heart,” said Kim Moses, executive assistant to Vanessa.
Moses lost her brother Courtney in November 2006. He was born with liver disease, and lived to 15 after receiving a liver transplant.
The Larry Hughes Family Foundation assistance the Moses family with funeral services.
“She’s a go-getter and does a wonderful job,” Vanessa said of Moses.
To attend the August 9 fundraiser or to donate, call (314) 645-5533 or visit www.larryhughesfoundation.com.