VUE

You helped restore a 107-year-old New Rochelle Church in 2014, tell me a little bit about what that was like and what it's meant to you. My wife is a pastor… we started [our congregation] at home and it got too big so we had to move to a different location. We were searching and a friend of mine took me to a place that was abandoned for years; no A/C, no heat, rain—all that stuff. It was beat up for over 20 years. When I got in there [I thought] it was a beautiful place, it was beat up and it was ugly, but I saw beauty. I saw the place serving the community. I ran and told my wife that I found [the church] and I brought her there. Did she fall in love with it? Not really. [Laughs.] It was bad... But at the same time it only takes one person with a vision to see beauty, and I saw it. I told my wife and we worked with the city of New Rochelle. They gave us the place for a dollar but we had to raise over three or four million to do the renovation—and we did. It was a challenge but we did. Now it's serving the community and the name is Refuge of Hope. It's a refuge and it's hope, for those that have lost [their way]. What other sort of programs does the Mariano Rivera Foundation help fund, and why are they important? It's more about education. We believe in education. Education goes forward. In sports you have injuries, and those injuries can cut your career short. Maybe even finish [your career]. Because of an injury, you may never make it. But if you finish your education, you can find a job and provide. In that, no injury can cut your career short. The Foundation has helped communities here and abroad, how does the organization decide when/ where to focus its efforts? I'll give you a good example. We have family friends from Fresno, California… We found a school there, Sierra High School. The teacher there was a music teacher and [the student's] uniforms were over 30 years old. The music equipment, the same thing. But this teacher was passionate and was determined to teach these boys and take them away from [getting into trouble]. The director of the foundation found out and told me about it…. We prayed. Then we went to Yamaha in the city and bought all new equipment, and then uniforms. We didn't just send it, we went there. We delivered the uniforms. When I got there, the teacher didn't know I was coming, they thought it was only the director. I was in the corner and they told the teacher there was somebody else that wants to be here while you receive the instruments and uniforms. I went there and those guys went crazy. The beautiful part about this was when we were carrying the instruments from the truck, they were hugging these things and kissing them, crying... It doesn't matter where the need is, as long as we can provide and we can help. If there's something that we can do, we're willing to do it. So it doesn't necessarily have to be New York. We've been helping out in Mexico, California, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Panama. All over. The base is here, but we're all over. You've had such an illustrious career, what does it mean to you personally to dedicate your retirement years to helping others? I always believed that giving back is something special. I don't think that the Lord places you in a situation just to place you. There has to be a purpose. I DIDN'T HAVE MUCH BUT GIVING WAS SOMETHING THAT I BELIEVED IN—THAT'S HOW EVERYTHING STARTED. VUE ON GIVING V U E N J . C O M 81

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