TAMPA, Fla. – Since his junior hockey days, the Lightning’s Nick Paul has been raising mental health awareness through his Points by Paul campaign.
The level of awareness has ramped up as his career has rolled along. His association with the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay is evidence of that. The forward donates $150 to the Crisis Center for every goal and assist. He recorded a career-best 46 points last season for a donation of $7,200. The Lightning Foundation matched Paul’s donation for a total of $14,400.
“You walk around this place and you see how important everybody’s job is, even the volunteers that put in their time here,” said Paul, during a check presentation event at the Crisis Center on Tuesday morning. “The people that are running it are amazing and everything they do is to make our community a better place. That’s why I chose it.”
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The wonderful people at the Crisis Center are grateful for the opportunity to partner with Paul, who was acquired by the Lightning from Ottawa at the 2022 trade deadline and has since been a presence in the community.
“We are so incredibly fortunate that Nick Paul, when he came to Tampa, he immediately wanted to engage in the work that we do here at the Crisis Center of Tampa Bay,” said Clara Reynolds, president and CEO at the north Tampa facility. “So often people say, ‘I never knew about the Crisis Center until I heard Nick Paul talk about it.’ So, it has been an incredible opportunity of outreach for us.”
Paul’s desire to not just help, but build a platform, resulted from the suicide of a ninth-grade classmate and lacrosse teammate.
“It touched me,” he said. “He was one of those guys who was always making jokes, the glass was always half full and to see that he took his life by suicide was an absolute shock to me. That kind of changed everything. From that moment on I knew that, as soon as I got a voice and platform, I wanted to do something about it. Every year I want to do more and more and help to the community in the biggest way I can.”
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