Cards on Capitol Hill

One of my goals in 2009 is to be more active with my philanthropic endeavors. Two seasons ago I donated all of my volleyball profits to Starlight Starbright Children's Foundation. It was a great experience and if you are looking for a top rated charity (http://www.charitynavigator.org/ is the largest charity evaluator online) Starlight is a great organization. For nearly 25 years, Starlight Children's Foundation has dedicated itself to helping seriously ill children and their families cope with their pain, fear and isolation through entertainment, education and family activities. So I am always looking to help out when I can.

Well one of the benefits of being a pro volleyball player is that great opportunities present themselves from time-to-time. Even though my last name isn't Walsh or Rogers or Gibb, because of my unique position as a business owner and a top 45 player, stuff presents itself. So when a friend of mine invited me to Washington D.C. to rub shoulders with Senators, Congressmen, and other quasi celebrities to help raise money for cancer, I said "Love to!"

While it might not have been the best idea to jump on a red-eye flight cross country, it didn't seem to bother me before Riverside, and since I was flying Virgin America for the first time en route to a cancer fundraiser, this was a no-brainer. To check out more information about the event, click http://www.preventcancer.org/donate2c.aspx?id=162. You can see videos and see pics of professional poker players Phil Gordon, Rafe Furst, Howard Lederer, Lee Childs and Jason Young.

Now, I did not win the charity poker tournament, but I did upload some pics and video of my sightseeing...which was a lot more exciting than my horrible poker play! For the record, my three 10's got beat by a runner, runner (yeah, last two cards of the flop), runner, runner straight...really?! That's why it's called gambling!