People and Pop Culture
Closing Shot: Still Making A Difference
Like other organizations, the Mike Slive Foundation has turned to a virtual approach during the pandemic, and its upcoming “Beyond Blue” event continues its mission to combat prostate cancer.
Auburn basketball coach Bruce Pearl (right) greets Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin at an in-person event for the Mike Slive Foundation in 2019. This year, Pearl will be taking part again, although the event has shifted to a virtual format.Mike Slive Foundation
Anna Slive Harwood likes to joke that she’s channeling her inner Wayne Gretzky when she says that you miss 100% of the shots you don’t take. Cancer doesn’t stop because of COVID, she says, and neither does the need for research dollars and grants.
Harwood is executive director of the Mike Slive Foundation, named for her late father, the former SEC commissioner, who lost his battle with prostate cancer in 2018. She understands that the pandemic has shifted some priorities when it comes to philanthropy, but Harwood is not afraid to say that she’s still asking.
The foundation, like a lot of businesses in 2020, has shifted to virtual events and found some success. Going virtual has provided Harwood with the ability to reach people who could not have attended the annual 5K race or the upcoming gala on Nov. 12, which is being called “Beyond Blue,” a reference to the blue ribbon that signifies prostate cancer awareness. Laura Rutledge and Mike Tirico will host.
John Calipari and Bruce Pearl, the men’s basketball coaches from Kentucky and Auburn, respectively, will be among the online guests for what will be like a one-hour television show with an auction to raise money.
When gathering items for the auction, Harwood reached out to Archie Manning, a member of the foundation’s advisory board, hoping to maybe get an autographed football. What came back from Manning was an autographed football by Manning and his sons, Eli, Peyton and Cooper.
The path to some other auction items was a little more circuitous. One of her father’s friends, Horizon League Commissioner Jon LeCrone, has a daughter who performs in the “Nutcracker” ballet. Through her, the foundation received “Nutcracker” tickets, backstage passes and tours.
Many auction items in the past have been tickets and travel packages to big sporting events, and because of COVID, those events are not being held or they’re being held with no fans or limited capacity. Some auction items are going virtual as well. Instead of bidding on a 20-minute coffee with SEC Commissioner Greg Sankey at Salem’s Diner in Birmingham, Ala., it will be a 20-minute video conference call.
Harwood said she was emboldened by her experience with the virtual “I’m With Mike” 5K in June. She set a goal of having 500 registered participants from all 50 states and wound up with 615 people signed up.
In three years since the foundation started, it has raised $1.5 million and funded 12 research grants.
“I’m hoping we can create an event that people find interesting and compelling,” Harwood said. “What we’ve tried to do is use the Mike Slive name and all of his connections from college sports to take on this disease. It’s a little different this year, but cancer doesn’t stop because of COVID.”
