Central Florida companies compete for charity

Renee Pool, a UCF alumna, never thought she would be participating for money in a competitive basketball tournament after graduating. Nor did she think that her adversaries at the tournament would be the companies she competes against everyday in the business world.

But once a year in Orlando, at the annual Charity Challenge, the hospitality and apartment companies have the opportunity to beat their business rivals to benefit 86 local charities.

"I noticed that besides people having a fun time, there's also a competitive nature to the event," Pool said. "People want to win. I loved how so many organizations and people come together and are able to put their lives away for one day to focus on helping others."

Pool, an event management major, attended the event for the first time while participating for Picerne Management Corporation, a real estate firm that provides housing in markets throughout the United States.

Pool said she was astounded by the number of people participating at the event, especially when she kept in mind that all the people at the event contributed to a great cause in some way.

Charity Challenge, an event that has supported the Central Florida community for 26 years, took place at the Florida Citrus Bowl, the former home stadium of the UCF Knights football.

On May 21, the annual event attracted the participation of 98 local companies within the hospitality field or apartment association from Greater Orlando. This year's huge turnout demonstrated once again why Charity Challenge is one of the most successful charity events in the city.

Some of the participating companies this year included Disney's Animal Kingdom, SeaWorld, Hard Rock Cafe Orlando and Comcast.

According to event's website, since 1985, Charity Challenge has awarded more than $4 million to hundreds of local charities. It originally began as a four-team backyard event and has transformed into a multimedia extravaganza with 200 sponsors and 150 volunteers.

Each team features six competitors, both male and female. The team combines to make a $500-minimum, tax-deductable donation.

Last year alone, Charity Challenge raised a record-breaking $305,000. This year, according to Sen. Lee Constantine, founder and organizer of the event, it is hard to estimate how much money will be raised compared to last year or the amount of people who participated at the event.

However, Constantine said that the committee expected more people this year, totaling 6,000 to 7,000 people.

The money raised will be announced in the next two weeks.

Charity Challenge's success can be attributed to how it introduces challenging and friendly competition for charity among business rivals in six different types of activities: a basketball shootout, canoe relays, obstacle courses, tubing relays, tug-of-war contests and a volleyball tournament.

For Lt. David Harris of the Orlando Fire Department, the greatest satisfaction of being part of the event comes from seeing people come together.

"All the concepts from Charity Challenge, such as team building, synergy and cooperation, truly compose the essence of Charity Challenge," Harris said. "By integrating the employees of each company into teams that are forced to work together, people begin to understand how to give back to the community."

Another component that makes Charity Challenge appealing to companies is the ability to pick who they donate to upon registration.

"That's why there are so many charities involved," Constantine said. "There's everything for everyone."

Charity Challenge exclusively focuses on the apartment and hospitality industries, Constantine said, because sometimes those industries don't get recognized for how much they give to the community Also, sometimes they don't have the opportunity to give back.

The hospitality and apartment industries, which include resorts, hotels, nightclubs, restaurants and theme parks, compose the largest sector of the economy in Central Florida.

When participants working for Disney and SeaWorld must compete against each other in the tug-of-war, for many spectators like Harris, the single events can become highly amusing to watch.

"It's interesting to see that there's a lot of competition going on here at Charity Challenge," Harris said. "But it's all positive competition that promotes in the end personal and team commitment."

"I didn't know what to expect, but I love being here because there's such a positive atmosphere no matter where you go," Pool said. "It seems as if there is no winner and loser and today we're rather all just the winners."