The NHL Panthers on Thursday announced the creation of the Florida Panthers Foundation Community Champions Grant Program, which will see donations of $25,000 "presented to a different local charitable organization at each home game," according to Craig Davis of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. The program is "patterned after a similar one undertaken" by the Lightning and will award more than $5M "over the next five years." Panthers Owner & Chair Vinnie Viola said, "The community has shown great commitment to the Panthers and we intend on continuing to do the very same for them." Davis reports the team made its first donation of $35,000 to the foundation of late Marlins P Jose Fernandez prior to the team's season-opener against the Devils Thursday night. The charitable grant program is "one of several community initiatives Viola pledged as a show of appreciation" for Broward County last year agreeing to a revised lease, as well as a "means of strengthening ties within the county." Viola indicated that the team will be "funding youth hockey opportunities for underprivileged kids." The club will be "soliciting recommendations for the charitable grants, open to 501(c)(3) organizations in South Florida." Viola, a graduate of West Point, said that "special emphasis will be given to charities that aid needy military veterans" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 10/14).
TIME TO CAPTURE THE REGION: In Miami, Greg Cote writes the Panthers "won the offseason," having done "everything right, in ways big and small, since the best regular season in franchise history ended prematurely" in the playoffs last year. The club spen\t nearly $185M "to extend its core of rising young stars to long-term contracts," and it rebooted the team's image "with new uniforms and a fresh logo." Cote: "The timing of it all sets up. While the starting-over Heat move on without Dwyane Wade, the Marlins stagger from their decimating tragedy and the Dolphins continue to be the rut-stuck Dolphins, the Cats are advertised as the best team this franchise ever has put on ice. A window has flung open in the South Florida market. ... All that is left is the minor matter of winning." Viola said, "This is a new era for the Florida Panthers, with new uniforms and new faces on the ice. But there's only one mission: To win the Stanley Cup. It's unfinished business" (MIAMI HERALD, 10/14).
