History of the Community Hero Program
The Lightning Community Heroes Program is the signature philanthropic initiative of the Lightning Foundation and has been lauded for its innovative contributions throughout the sports community. In 2011, Lightning owner Jeff Vinik and his family launched the program as a collaboration with the Vinik Family Foundation and the Lightning Foundation to celebrate deserving Heroes and distribute funding to non-profits throughout the Tampa Bay community.
At each of the Lightning's 41 regular season and playoff home games for the past thirteenseasons, the Lightning Community Hero program has been honored to celebrate a local Hero and donate $50,000 to a non-profit charity of their choice. Celebrating our Community Heroes has become a beloved signature moment at our home games.
Before the 2021-22 season, following the program's first ten impactful years, Jeff Vinik and his family generously pledged a $10 million donation to continue the Hero program for another five years. This donation aims to expand the opportunities for non-profits to apply for funding, ensuring maximum impact and participation. To continue celebrating grassroots Heroes who volunteer at local non-profits, non-profits may now apply directly for $50,000 in grant funding to support specific projects and programs, all while highlighting an internal Hero at the non-profit who champions the grant for which the non-profit is applying.
