Did Anybody Hear About This?

SHAQ HELPING HOMEOWNERS FIGHT OFF FORECLOSURE

The following story ran in the Orlando Sentinel on June 17th of this year. Now if he had been speaking bad of a former colleague (something he did that we all heard about), or making some of the other blunders that Black athletes and/or artist have made, i.e. drunk driving, beating or cheating on his wife, getting caught buying drugs or guns, it would have been all over the t.v. and the internet but since he is actually helping people it is very hush, hush.

A week after Shaquille O'Neal started working on a plan to rescue Central Floridians facing foreclosure; he has learned just how widespread the problem is. "He has two or three thousand e-mails," said Curtis Cooper, an Orlando Realtor and mortgage broker working with O'Neal on the project. "There have been a lot of calls from talk shows and radio shows." While some of the calls have been from Good Morning America, Inside Edition and would-be business partners, most have come from people who are days or weeks away from losing their homes. People who have found little help from their mortgage companies and are now looking for help from the celebrity who says he has a plan. People like Belinda Petroccia. "There are so many shysters out there who take advantage of you financially and emotionally," said Petroccia, who saw her income dip with the tumbling real-estate market and now faces foreclosure on her Wedgefield home in east Orange County. "When I saw this, I thought, 'That's what I need -- maybe Shaq can help.'" Last week, an attorney working with O'Neal said the Phoenix Suns center wants to buy the mortgages of people whose homes are in foreclosure, then give the homeowner a new mortgage with better terms. Homeowners would stay in their homes with more affordable payments, and O'Neal would turn a small profit. "He said, 'Let's just go out and help as many people as we can,'" Cooper said. "He's sincere about it."

If you or someone you know would like to request help you can get more information by contacting Cooper by e-mail at uc3n1@cfl.rr.com