Justin Turner was named the Los Angeles Dodgers’ nominee for the 2020 Roberto Clemente Award, marking a third time in the past four years he has been up for the prestigious honor. Turner has yet to win the award, and should he break through, very clearly plans to share it with his wife Kourtney.
“First and foremost, Kourtney should be sitting up here next to me. She deserves as much of the credit and recognition for this award as I get,” Turner began his press conference to discuss the nomination.
Kourtney is vice president of the Justin Turner Foundation, but more than that is recognized as the spirit behind its initiatives and endless work in the community.
“She’s been unbelievable for our foundation, keeping everything organized, moving forward, responding and setting things up. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her,” Justin said. “I would have no chance of doing this if it wasn’t for her. She is incredibly organized, she spends hours and hours on her computer every day, going through emails, answering emails, setting up food deliveries, reaching out to different companies for sponsors.
“We don’t have a whole lot of help. She takes the reins on pretty much everything because she’s a believer if you want things done the way you want them done, you just do it yourself. Almost to a fault she takes on so much. Sometimes it’s tough on her, but she always comes up in the clutch and gets it done. There would be no Justin Turner Foundation if it wasn’t for her.
“To the Clemente Award, it’s something that means a lot to Kourt and I, and something we take a lot of pride in giving back to the community, finding ways to serve, reach out and help people, lift people up in times of need. To be nominated on a team full of guys who are really, really excellent about helping out our community and the city of Los Angeles, is pretty special to us.”
On top of providing for those in need through the Justin Turner Foundation, Justin regularly represents the L.A. Dodgers Foundation at team-organized events and engagements.
“The Dodgers have always been outstanding in Los Angeles. They have so many outreach programs, whether it be in the schools, the Dreamfields or reading programs, the RBI program. They really do a tremendous job in the city of L.A.,” he said.
“Like I said earlier, there’s so many guys in our clubhouse that do go above and beyond, get out in the community and make a difference. It just speaks to the type of guys we have in our clubhouse. Not everyone has a foundation, but the guys that do have a foundation, when they have needs, if I go to a teammate and say, ‘Can you make this video for this kid? Or can you sign a jersey for this auction?’
“It’s without hesitation. The support from all of our teammates and their families has been huge all along. It’s just a great organization that I think does an outstanding job from top to bottom in the city of Los Angeles.”
Justin Turner Foundation recognized by Dream Center
Justin and Kourtney partnered with local restaurants to deliver food to The Dream Center during their drive-thru service that was available daily for 11 hours and wound up serving 900,000 meals to help families cope with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
In recognition of their commitment, The Dream Center unveiled the Justin and Kourtney Turner Food Bank in June.
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