Recently during the 2020 ESPY awards, the Los Angeles Dodgers were honored for the Sports Humanitarian Team Award. ESPN gives the award to one team that shows how teamwork can create an impact on a community or cause. In the case of the Dodgers, their work with the Dodgers Foundation in the Los Angeles community was recognized.
Besides the work the Dodgers do with their foundation, a lot of the players do their own work within the community. One of them is Justin Turner and his wife Kourtney.
Justin and Kourtney started the Justin Turner Foundation in 2016. According to the foundation’s site, “the mission is to support homeless veterans, children (and their families) battling life-altering illnesses and diseases and various youth baseball organizations.” The foundation often works with the LA Dream Center amongst other organizations that the couple supports.
So far to date, the foundation has been able to provide housing for veterans with the LA Dream center including a wing specifically for female veterans. They take part in delivering gifts every holiday season to the local Children’s hospital for those that won’t be able to spend the holidays at home and the yearly AM570 Radio-Thon that supports the paralyzed veterans of America and DC Veterans program.
Outside of their work with the LA Dream Center, local Children’s Hospitals, Dodgers Foundation, and various Veterans organizations, the foundation also hosts yearly golf tournaments that partner with a different organization or charity every year. The past tournaments partnered the 17Strong Foundation, LA Dream Center, and a few others.
When Covid-19 reared its head in March 2020, a lot of things were left uncertain in Los Angeles as well as the entire country. Justin and his wife Kourtney stepped up in a big way. They partnered up with the LA Dream Center to provide over 1,000 meals from local restaurants and essential items for families in need every day.
Soon enough it wasn’t just Justin and Kourtney helping but Clayton Kershaw, Chris Taylor, Max Muncy, Ross Stripling, and others started matching the contributions. Most of this happened without fanfare or attention outside a few tweets by a fan or media member who somehow heard who donated that day.
In honor of their work with the LA Dream Center especially during this time of need, the Center honored the couple by naming a food bank after them. According to Dodger Blue, the Justin and Kourtney Turner Foodbank will provide for 60 other organizations in the area and continue to provide meals for the center. It will also be utilized to supply 23 mobile food bank sites with up to 200 bags of groceries per day.
Everything this couple does is because they felt it was the right thing to do for those in need. They never expect or want anything in exchange. It’s not the first time the couple has done something like this and I really don’t think it will be the last.
You can find Justin at @redturn2 and Kourtney at @court_with_a_k on Instagram and Twitter. The couple also hosts a podcast called Holding Kourt that can be found wherever you listen to podcasts.
You can also find more information on the Justin Turner Foundation at Justinturnerfoundation.com or on their social media accounts. @jtfoundation10 on Instagram and Twitter.
She Writes Sports 
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