Baltimore Ravens Ray Lewis helps surviving son of mother who drowned herself and three children
Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis and former cornerback for the Carolina Panthers Reggie Howard attended a fundraiser on Saturday 30 April, 2011 in Manhattan, New York for the United Athletes Foundation, which Lewis is an active supporter of.
He and Howard are helping ten-year old La’Shaun Armstrong, whose mother drowned herself and three of her children by driving her vehicle into New York’s Hudson River. Lashanda Armstrong drove her minivan into the river in Newburgh, New York with her four
children inside after a heated argument with her long-time boyfriend and father of her children, Jean Pierre. La’Shaun Armstrong managed to escape the minivan after opening one of the windows and swimming to safety. He was later rescued by a passing driver.
La’Shaun attended the fundraiser with some of the proceeds going to the creation of a fund for La’Shaun to aid with tutoring, counselling and mentoring. Lewis reached out to the boy as soon as he heard about the tragedy that occurred on 12 April. La’Shaun
was ecstatic when meeting Lewis, calling the moment “awesome.”
Lewis thinks that La’Shaun needs some mentoring from a fatherly figure and went bowling with the boy. His own biological father is currently incarcerated for robbery.
The United Athletes Foundation was created in 2008 by a group of athletes that wanted to improve their community and the lives of other athletes. Lewis is the vice chairman of the foundation while Howard is the president. Howard took La’Shaun out earlier
this week, shopping for a new suit.
"I hopped into a cab in Manhattan to his house [in Middletown, N.Y.] -- and I had no idea it was more than 60 miles away!" Howard said as he prepared to host Saturday's event at Manhattan's Grand Hyatt hotel.
La’Shaun and Datrice Armstrong, the boy’s grandmother, were special guests to the foundation during the fundraiser weekend, staying in deluxe suites at the Grand Hyatt hotel. Datrice Armstrong has been caring for La’Shaun since the night of the tragedy and
is planning on raising him herself.
The foundation presented a check to La’Shaun on Saturday, the amount of which was not disclosed, and plans to continue offering support to La’Shaun, according to Howard.
Lewis is entering his 16th year in the NFL, all of which were with the Ravens. Lewis was drafted 26th overall by the Ravens in the first round of the 1996 NFL Draft. Since then, he has played in 210 games and had 1,898 tackles, 1,442
of which were solo. He has also deflected 111 passes, had 38.5 sacks, 16 forced fumbles and 30 interceptions returned for 499 yards and three touchdowns.
Howard played in the NFL for seven years, spending the most time with the Panthers. He had 257 tackles, six interceptions and 4.5 sacks in his career.
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