2009 Charlotte Jumper Classic Helps Make A Difference For Bobcats Youth Foundation

The Charlotte Jumper Classic, one of the nation's best show jumping events, is held on April 10-12 at the Time Warner Cable Arena, home to the NBA's Charlotte Bobcats basketball team.

The Charlotte Jumper Classic is a fundraiser for the Bobcats Youth Foundation, which uses three key programs to help empower and enrich the lives of youth throughout the Carolinas. The Foundation mission is to be responsive to the needs of the community, meet those needs, and make the area a better place to live, work, and play.
 
Charlotte Jumper Classic President Robert Johnson stated, "I hope that area friends and families will join me and some of the world's best show jumpers at this year's Charlotte Jumper Classic. It is the signature fundraising event for the Bobcats Youth Foundation. Since its inception, we've been very successful in raising funds to benefit the foundation and support literacy and education, health and fitness and wellness throughout Charlotte."
 
With a commitment to passion, integrity, hard work and teamwork in all they do, the Bobcats Youth Foundation has the ability to affect change by channeling those values into three points of emphasis - their community pillars of fitness and recreation, literacy and education, and health and wellness.
 
For fitness and recreation, fitness rallies will be held. Fitness Rallies offer the Bobcats Youth Foundation opportunities to promote the importance of leading healthy, active lifestyles to elementary school students throughout the Carolinas.  Using Bobcats players, broadcasters, dance team members and mascot Rufus Lynx, the Foundation uses these rallies to demonstrate simple and fun ways to be active, eat a balanced diet and maintain a healthy level of physical fitness.
 
Literacy and education is another important aspect that the Bobcats Youth Foundation focuses on. Through the creation of Reading and Technology Centers, the Bobcats Youth Foundation is positioned as a partner in educationto provide "an assist"to one of Charlotte's most important and significant community issues: educating the community's children. With a focus on literacy and a love of learning, the Foundation strives to ensure that all kids are equipped to pursue their dreams.
 
Finally, health and wellness is a right that every child should have. The Community Care Cruiseris a collaborative effort with Presbyterian Hospital to promote wellness and to provide access to healthcare for underserved populations, especially children.  The Community Care Cruiser is a 38-foot mobile clinic providing preventive medical care to those who cannot afford it. 
 
The common theme that runs through these three initiatives is a commitment to investing in the health, education, and wellbeing of a generation of young people.  By providing hope and opportunity for our youth, the Bobcats Youth Foundation works each day to make our community a better place in which to live, work and play.