Hudsons heed calling to start family foundation

By Chris Vivlamore

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Tim and Kim Hudson heard the calling.

It started as a whisper at a chance meeting with a Make-A-Wish Foundation event in California when the Braves pitcher was with the Oakland A’s.

By the time Hudson was traded to Atlanta in 2004, the whisper became a loud voice that the couple could not ignore. Despite some advice to the contrary, the Hudsons heeded the challenge to step out in faith and start their own charitable foundation.

“That chance encounter, Tim and I both feel like [it was] the defining moment and we honestly feel it was God saying, ‘OK, this is a foretaste of what’s going to happen on down the road,’” said Kim Hudson of that day in 1999, when they happened to be in the same restaurant as a Make-A-Wish group on an A’s caravan stop. “We lived in a bubble. He was very focused on what he was doing. He just made it up [to the major leagues] and now he was trying to stay. I was in my second year in law school, very competitive. We were both very egocentric.”

From that brief meeting, the couple formed a lasting relationship with the charity. Once the family reached Atlanta, the Hudsons immediately connected with the local Make-A-Wish chapter. Soon, they branched out and began working with Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

But still, they felt a pull to do more. As much as those institutions did, Tim and Kim saw a need to help families struggling with the day-to-day anxiety of a sick child.

So in June 2009, the Hudson Family Foundation was formed to “make a positive and long lasting impact in the lives of children who have a genuine need for assistance with regard to a specific physical, emotional or financial circumstance,” as its mission statement reads.

The foundation holds its 2nd Annual Hudson's Honky Tonk Benefit Weekend on Friday and Saturday. The Hudsons will host a dinner party Friday and the event culminates with a Saturday country music concert featuring Jason Aldean and Luke Bryan, at the Arena at Gwinnett Center. The foundation has granted more than $150,000 in two years.

The operation really had its genesis in 2008 and 2009, while Hudson was rehabbing from Tommy John surgery that cost him nearly a full major league season.

“Imagine as a parent, hearing that kind of news and having to deal with it on a day-to-day basis,” Kim Hudson said of childhood diseases. “We talked about it and thought we could step in and do something about it if we started our own foundation. We thought it through and talked and prayed about it.”

They sought the advice of Hudson’s agent, Paul Cohen, who at first tried to discourage the couple.

“Not in a mean way, but in a constructive way, he pretty much said that was the worst idea he’d ever heard,” Kim Hudson said. “It wasn’t going to work and here’s why. There is a bad economy, people are having trouble paying their bills. Why would they want to give us money? How are we going to leverage our contacts? Is Tim ever going to play again? They were very valid points.

"It was one of those things where God puts something on your heart and nudges you to do something, it just doesn’t go away. I can honestly say that was the first time in my life that that has ever happened. I told Tim I understand, but I just feel like now, if it's such bad times and people are struggling so much, I feel like now is the better time than ever.”

They received government approval as a 501(c) non-profit organization and hired Stephanie Clarke, who worked in the Braves community affairs department, as executive director of the foundation. Clarke had previously worked with the NBA’s Phoenix Suns and arranged a meeting between the Hudsons and Suns point guard Steve Nash, who has his own foundation that supports children, to seek his advice as they began their journey.

“We never knew where this journey would take us, but there are not two people in this community and this country more dedicated to making a difference in the lives of children,” Clarke said.

The first year, after an initial fundraiser, Clarke estimates the Hudson Family Foundation supported 30 other non-profit organizations aimed at helping children.

But Hudson wanted to do more than write checks. He wanted a more direct impact on the lives of those affected. The foundation structure was changed and the Hudsons now work directly with social workers, case managers, hospital staff and other health care professionals to identify families with the greatest need. If approved, families receive grants up to $2,000 to pay household bills, buy medication and otherwise ease the financial burden a serious illness can create on a family. The foundation also runs a scholarship program for students who are making a difference both in and out of the classroom.

“The biggest thing is, your child is sick and you shouldn’t have to worry about anything except that. But unfortunately that’s not the case,” Kim Hudson said. “You are worrying about your child, you’re worrying about paying your bills. If someone says, ‘Let me pay your bills for two months, get you caught up and you worry about this,' that’s where our heart is.”

The first recipient of the new program was a sister of Casey Nickels, a football player at the University of Georgia. Callie Nickels suffered from bone cancer and the family was struggling with the mounting costs of the treatment. Georgia coach Mark Richt contacted Children’s Healthcare for help. The Hudson Foundation stepped in and arranged to pay for Callie’s medication directly with a pharmacy.

“It was tough on the family,” Richt said. “It was a great, great blessing for that family and Casey in particular. You could see it. I wouldn’t doubt if it was a God thing. ... It all kind of fell together. God uses people.”

Today, Callie Nickels is a healthy sophomore at Washington-Wilkes High School.

“It got us through a very hard time,” said Becki Nickels, Callie’s mother. “It allowed us to take care of Callie, which was the most important thing.”

That was exactly what the Hudsons had hoped to accomplish.

“I think after going and seeing a lot of the families dealing with situations, the one thing that really hit me was the families that really struggled, not only with their situation with their sick child, but struggled with finances because of that,” Tim Hudson said. “It was tough to see kids at the hospital who didn’t have their parents there because their parents had to go home and work or they couldn’t afford to be there or they couldn’t afford gas. ...

"There’s no sense in that. That was a way we felt we could go in a little bit different direction, helping people out on an individual basis and hopefully bridge the gap between something they are dealing with. And hopefully they get home when their child is better and we helped bridge that gap.”

Several Braves players do extensive charitable works, including Chipper Jones and Brian McCann. Matt Diaz recently received approval for a foundation similar to the Hudsons' in central Florida.

“They have kind of been a model for us for the fact that they feel blessed and want to give back and we feel blessed and want to give back in that same scope,” Diaz said. “They were definitely an inspiration, seeing how passionate they were about helping kids.”