Keith Girard
Khloe Kardashian defended husband Lamar Odom’s charity Cathy’s Kids.
“It is unfortunate that my husband has been the target of an attack on athletes’ charities, although he has personally contributed approximately $2.2 million to his foundation, Cathy’s Kids,” she wrote on her site.
Its charitable purposes, she added, “include helping underprivileged inner-city youth.”
The sports network’s report, on the show “Outside the Lines,” claimed Odom’s charity has raised $2.2 million since 2004, but none of the money has gone to one of the organization’s stated purposes, cancer research. Lamar founded the charity after his mother died from stomach cancer.
The report also claimed that the charity has spent $1.3 million to fund basketball programs for elite players. Khloe said the effort is designed to help the kids get into college. But the ESPN report suggested that most of the players were already being scouted by colleges.
The remaining $900,000 is largely unaccounted for, according to the report.
But Khloe noted that Lamar personally contributed 90 percent of the funds. Both the Lamar and Khloe ask for donations from the public on their websites.
“All of the funds donated by Lamar and the other contributions to Cathy’s Kids were used for one of the foundation’s intended charitable purposes,” she said.
“Not one penny went to help Lamar personally or any member of his family. No charitable funds were misused, and the IRS has repeatedly given Cathy’s Kids a clean bill of health, confirming that there were no improprieties,” she added.
The charity, she said, has a dual purpose, cancer research and helping underprivileged inner-city kids. The AAU basketball teams funded by the charity provided underprivileged youth with opportunities enriching their lives,” she noted.
The money was used to provide financial support for coaching and travel to tournaments, “helping inner-city youth on a path toward success and leading many participants to go on to college.”
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