TAMPA BAY – The Tampa Bay Lightning honored Jose Valiente as the first Lightning Community Hero of the year during the first period of tonight’s game against the Philadelphia Flyers. Valiente, who received a $50,000 donation from the Lightning Foundation and the Lightning Community Heroes program, will donate the money to Junior Achievement and the Boy Scouts of America. The Lightning Foundation continues the hero program for its fifth season of a pledge made by Lightning Owner Jeff Vinik in 2010 to donate $10 million over five seasons.
As Chairman of the Greater Tampa Chamber of Commerce, Valiente was a driving force behind implementing a drop-out prevention program for eighth grade classrooms throughout Hillsborough County known as Diploma-See Day.