PRO FOOTBALL HALL OF FAMER & BUSINESS ENTREPRENEUR CURTIS MARTIN TO BE HONORED IN APRIL BY CAPS

ROSLYN, NY: Pro Football Hall of Famer Curtis Martin will be honored this April with the prestigious "Humanitarian of the Year” award by Child Abuse Prevention Services (CAPS), a leading non-profit agency on Long Island. 

Martin, a Nassau County resident, is a respected business entrepreneur who played in the NFL for the New York Jets and New England Patriots from 1995 through 2005. He is being honored by CAPS for his charitable contributions and for overcoming long odds while being raised in a single-parent abused family. 

CAPS/Bully Prevention Center is Long Island's primary resource for the prevention of child abuse and bullying. CAPS' volunteers speak at K-12 schools throughout Nassau and Suffolk and provide child safety education and youth violence prevention information to thousands of students each year. 

"We are pleased to recognize Curtis Martin with our highest individual honor," says CAPS Board President Joanne Campbell Schiefer. "Curtis has been a role model for young people since his football playing days and now his Curtis Martin Foundation provides financial resources, jobs and hands-on support to single mothers, youth charities, and individuals with disabilities." 

Martin, 46, has been outspoken on the positive role his mother played in raising him while she at the same time was suffering in an abusive and failed marriage.

 "My mother is the strongest individual I know," say Martin who himself is married and father of two young girls. “By the time I was five years old, my dad left the house and Mom worked two and sometimes three jobs to support us. When I was in high school, she told me I had to be involved in some after-class activity whether it was sports, the glee club or the band. She wanted to be as certain as possible that I was not in our unsafe Pittsburgh neighborhood longer than necessary. To appease her, 1 played football my senior year and was fortunate to attract college scholarship offers. I am so grateful to her for all that she did for me and for protecting me when I was young."

Martin will be honored at CAPS’ Annual Spring Luncheon on Thursday, April 23, 2020 at The Carltun in Eisenhower Park in East Meadow, NY. Previous honorees at this sold-out event have included Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, book author/news anchor Gretchen Carlson, and singer-songwriter Judy Collins. 
The CAPS Spring Luncheon is held in April each year to spotlight Child Abuse Prevention Month, and will feature recognizable vendors, attractive raffles and exclusive silent auction prizes. For information regarding sponsorships and table reservations to this popular and worthwhile affair, please call the CAPS office at 516-621-0552 or go to https://capsli.regfox.com/capsbully-prevention-centers-35th-annual-luncheon