Marbury granting wishes through charity
By Slim Smith, Tribune
When you are blessed with the kind of talent Stephon Marbury has, you get a lot of neat stuff – money, fame, adulation.
On Tuesday, the Phoenix Suns guard got something much cooler than that stuff.
Here's how it happened:
Marbury is sitting on a leather sofa in the circular driveway of his fashionable Scottsdale home. He is surrounded by furniture that he's donating to the Make-A-Wish Foundation – five sofas, two complete bedroom suites, two overstuffed leather chairs with ottomans, four bureau chests, six dining room chairs, six end tables, six lamps and a couple of coffee tables.
Laura Toussaint-Newkirk, communication manager for Make-A-Wish, approaches him sheepishly.
"Can I ask a favor?'' she says in an apologetic tone. "I've got a Sharpie... Could you sign a couple of items?''
And at that moment, Stephon Marbury became a legend in the eyes of small children everywhere – He was encouraged to mark on furniture! (Note to impressionable young readers: Do not try this at home).
There were about 10 photographers and reporters gathered to witness this event, but you could tell that Marbury's motive in this very public act of charity was not about self-promotion.
A lot of pro athletes won't part with a nickel until a news crew has been assembled to record the moment for the greater glory of the millionaire ballplayer. Invariably, these events have a rehearsed feel to them.
Marbury? He just stepped out into his driveway in a T-shirt, cut-off jeans and sandals and seemed underwhelmed by the attention he was getting.
"My wife and I had some of this stuff in storage and we got some new stuff, too. We said, 'let's just give it away to charity,' '' Marbury said. "I went to a (Make-A-Wish) dinner the other night and met some of the kids. I just thought, you know, I'll just give this stuff to them. Anything to help out.''
So the Marburys hauled the furniture out to the drive and waited for the truck to arrive Tuesday.
In the interim, the Make-A-Wish folks alerted the media, figuring that while Marbury may not need the publicity, the foundation could sure use it.
Make-A-Wish, an international charity founded in the Valley in 1980, serves terminally ill children by making a wish come true. Some wishes are simple, others extravagant. Foundation president Rebecca Villicana estimates the average cost to fulfill a wish is $5,000.
Lately, the foundation has become a victim of its own success. It has also fallen victim to the anemic economy, says Villicana.
"We've really done a great job of getting the word out in the medical community about what we do,'' Villicana said. "Last year, our wishes increased by 70 percent. That is huge. We had to double our staff just to keep up with the number of wishes coming in. The economy has caught up to everybody, including Make-A-Wish.''
While the foundation has a program set up to accept donated automobiles, Marbury is the first person to donate furniture.
And it's not cheap stuff, either. It's hard to estimate the value of Marbury's offering. Best guess, judging the obvious quality and flawless condition of the items, $10,000 to $15,000. That's two or three wishes right there.
"People usually aren't this creative,'' said Villicana, who said the foundation would likely auction off the furniture. "But we have more than 130 children on the waiting list, so anything that we can get in the door that we can turn into wishes, we want.''
Even furniture.
They would prefer you not mark on it, though.
