The Lighting may have lost the Stanley Cup last night, but the ownership knows how to make a tremendous impact in the community.

EVERY Lighting game the team uses one time out to highlight a local charity and presents them with $50,000 to support their efforts.  The ovation is tremendous, the effects endure and the community is stronger because of the team.

• John Franzone – VP Tampa Lightning – Interview with Tampa Bay Lightning’s John Franzone. John talks about staying on brand with your show, cowbells and much more.
• Recap: Building on Success with John Franzone – John Franzone from the Stanley Cup discusses building your show when your team is winning, Pre-game Pumps, watching the game like a fan and owning the exclusive right to play Thunderstuck.

This summary from our Interview with John Franzone:

Believe it or not every game for the last two years we take the entire second TV timeout or the first period and we salute a local hero.  Someone who has flown under the radar and has been dedicated to whatever charity cause, non-profit and people nominate this person.  They are given on the spot $50,000 in their name to donate to charity of their choice. So this initiative goes on for the next three years and so it’s basically $10 million donated for the next five years.

We stop the game and we run a very elegantly produced video and it tells the story and we transition to our hero in the suite  with their presenter and their jersey and it’s a standing ovation every night because it kind of puts sort of life and the game in perspective. Again that’s kind of what I talked about earlier; it sort of elevates the pride in your community.

Well the team didn’t forget the value and impact of giving during their 3rd straight Final appearance this year.  Owner Jeff Vinik spread the wealth by giving EVERY full-time staffer $5000 to donate to the charity of their choice. What an amazing gift and one that gives empowers everyone on their staff.

2 Stanley Cups and 3 Finals appearances in 3 years …. and that’s not even the best thing this team is doing.

Tonight's Community Hero: Every full-time #Bolts employee. There are 244 full-time employees and each of them will be given $5,000 to grant to the non-profit of their choice, totaling $1.22 million. Jeff Vinik does it again. Amazing.#COLvsTBL

— Chris Krenn (@Chris_Krenn) June 27, 2022