Bucs' Faine spreading interests to troubled youth

TAMPA - Tampa Bay Buccaneers center Jeff Faine woke up one day thinking about how financially successful he had become and it bothered him.

Faine's financial portfolio would impress most millionaires. He owns three businesses in Cleveland - a restaurant, bar and nightclub - and a clothing store in Orlando. He is part-owner of steakhouses in Los Angeles and Las Vegas, a peanut company, a real estate company, a production company, and is also a successful oil investor. The fact he signed a six-year deal with Tampa Bay worth $37.5 million in 2008 is just icing on his financial cake.

"But I'm doing all this for myself - I'm making all this money, doing well, my family is well, my friends and people around me are well - and I wasn't doing anything," Faine said. "I wasn't doing anything to help people and make people's lives better.

"I felt I should be responsible to help people as much as I can. No matter what, you can't take it with you."

Faine will kick off his plan to give back this week.

On Friday, Faine will host "An Evening of Hope", designed to raise money for The Faine House, A Project of H.O.P.E. (Home of Positive Encouragement). The New Orleans-style party will take place at The Ballroom at Church Street in downtown Orlando and costs $150 per person.

Faine's vision is house six to eight teenagers no longer eligible to participate in foster care. He wants to equip them with the essential tools and training necessary to become successful in life.

"This is a place for some of these kids who really want help and want to make something better for themselves," Faine said. "A place to get social counseling and financial guidance, learn how to open a checking and savings account, the things that most people take for granted. A place they can live as well, but there will be requirements on their end, whether it be a obtaining a GED, two-year college degree, trade school degree, or attending a four-year university.

"They also have to do community service and try to reinvest themselves in the community. It's really an opportunity to set these kids on the right track and prevent them from making the wrong decisions."

Faine said his initial goal was to design a program to help the homeless, but after learning 50 percent of foster children are on the streets within two years of turning 18, his focus shifted.

Although Faine's first community project will be in Orlando, he wants to partner with local businesses and companies to open homes in Tampa Bay.

"I would like to get it over to Tampa and hopefully partner with the NFL and get a house in every NFL city," Faine said. "This house in Orlando will be called the Faine House, but there is no reason we can't have the Cadillac Williams House in Tampa or the Drew Brees House in New Orleans.

"A lot of these kids never made a bad decision in their life. It's just a situation that was out of their control and a situation they were born into. These are kids who are young enough and still have the ability to make changes and make a difference in their lives. I am personally committed to making this happen."

WHAT: An Evening of Hope, fundraiser to build The Faine House, A Project of H.O.P.E. (Home of Positive Encouragement)
WHERE: The Ballroom at Church Street, Orlando
WHEN: Friday, 7 p.m.
COST: $150 per person
CONTACT: Michael Cantillo at (321) 397-3000, ext. 395; or e-mail at Michael.Cantillo@chsfl.org