 Tampa Bay Rays baseball player Sean Rodriguez high-fives Riley as they reach the end of the runway during the annual Fashion Funds the Cure for pediatric cancer patients. [Photo: James Branaman/Tampa Bay Times] |
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 Dan Doyle and wife Nicole |
Dan Doyle Jr., 41
President/CEO,
DEX Imaging
Tampa
Dan Doyle Jr. says he was inspired to get involved with various children’s charities by his parents. "My parents raised me to believe that the only way to fix the future is to start with our youth."
Doyle loves golfing, hunting, sport fishing and exotic cars but makes it a priority to devote time to his post as a board member of the Pediatric Cancer Foundation, for which he also serves as co-chair of the annual Fashion Funds the Cure initiative.
Paying it forward: The annual Fashion Funds event raised $75,000 during Doyle’s first year as co-chair. Five years later, the event raised $800,000. "Considering the entire event only costs $62,000 to run, I am definitely proud of how far we have come and how much awareness we have raised."
 Andy Levinson and his "little brother" Alfonso |
Andy Levinson, 38
Executive director, PGA Tour
Ponte Vedra Beach
Andy Levinson joined Big Brothers Big Sisters as a mentor in 2005 after hearing about a co-worker’s positive experience with the organization. Levinson has developed his own approach to dealing successfully and effectively with the kids. "Understand what they’re interested in and build upon that," he says. "Simple interests like sports cars can be expanded to develop an interest in engineering, physics and even economics," he says.
Notable achievement: "Spending five years with the same little brother and watching him develop academically and personally."
Mike Busacca, 48
U.S. commercial director, Fraser Yachts
Hollywood
 Mike Busacca with children [Photo: Robert Stolpe] |
In 1998, Mike Busacca, who got his start in the yacht business 25 years ago building vessels, was asked to attend the Boys & Girls Club Yacht Rendezvous at Fisher Island in Miami. "It really opened my eyes to how much help and guidance they needed in order to have a great future," he says of the children. "That’s when I felt compelled to donate my time and spirit to this organization." This November, the ShowBoats International Boys & Girls Clubs Yacht Rendezvous is celebrating its 25th anniversary at Atlantis on Paradise Island in the Bahamas. Since its inception, the event has raised more than $30 million for the Boys & Girls Clubs of Broward County and has become the world’s largest gathering of yachts for a charitable purpose. When the event first started in 1988, Busacca says, there were just four clubs and 3,247 children helped; today, he says, there are 12 clubs and more than 12,000 children helped.
His motivation: "These children need guidance, and only we can give that to them. We need to keep them focused in school, teach them skills, give them the tools to succeed and make them feel they can achieve anything they want in life."