"If I make it to the major leagues," he told his father one day, "I want to set up a foundation that will have a positive impact on kids. I want to help nurture dreams. I want to show kids there's another way to go." - Derek Jeter
Long before becoming a baseball hero and the idol of young baseball hopefuls and teenage boys and girls across the country, shortstop Derek Jeter had something else far more important on his mind.
In 1996, during a wildly successful rookie year with the New York Yankees, Jeter made good on his promise. Dining on pizza in a Detroit hotel room, before a game against the Detroit Tigers, father and son put on paper the outline of what would become the Turn 2 Foundation. The Turn 2 Foundation got its name from the double plays executed by infielders, and "turn to" for the guidance Derek's foundation would offer to youth in an effort to keep them off drugs and alcohol and choose healthy lifestyles.
Since it's launch in December 1996, the Turn 2 Foundation has awarded over $7 million for existing substance abuse prevention programs for high-risk youth in Kalamazoo, Michigan, where Jeter grew up, and the boroughs of New York City, where he works.
