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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Lorie Hargrave wipes her son Hal’s face moments before Hal spoke to more than 700 guests at the Be Perfect Foundation fundraiser held at the Hafif Estate in La Verne on Saturday. |
New foundation receives bevy of local support
Saturday night will go down as one of the most special nights for the young Be Perfect Foundation. The more than 700 people in attendance at the Hafif Estate in La Verne were treated to an event that included everything from smiles and laughter to tears and strong emotion.
At the heart of it all was a show of community support that—in more ways than one—made the Be Perfect Foundation fundraiser a success under the evening lights. The event’s purpose was to raise money for spinal cord injury victims.
“It is so overwhelming,” said Lorie Hargrave as she surveyed the crowd of people.
The Saturday night occasion included dinner and dessert, an auction and raffle that included many of Hal Hargrave Jr.’s sports memorabilia, musical entertainment, video presentations of the Be Perfect Foundation and also of Mr. Hargrave, Jr.’s ongoing recovery. It also offered a chance for those in attendance to give encouraging words to Mr. Hargrave, Jr. via microphone.
Then, it was time for the keynote speaker—Mr. Hargrave, Jr., himself. As the 2007 Claremont High School graduate recounted his accident and the recovery process that he has undergone up to this point, a respectable silence came over the crowd. Yet by the time Mr. Hargrave, Jr. finished his speech, there was a roar of applause among the people of that same crowd who found themselves inspired by his words.
“This isn’t as bad as it seems,” Mr. Hargrave, Jr. shared. “I feel I’ve been given a gift. This is my opportunity to prove to everybody, to myself, to God, to my family that this speed bump in the road is so minor in life. I feel that this has really shown me who I am and what my character is. And I’m trying to be better every day and I’m trying to be perfect.”
While Mr. Hargrave, Jr. noted that the idea of being perfect could give off the aura of arrogance and superiority, he clarified what the concept means to him and why it is something that everyone can do.
“It’s me telling myself every day that I’m going to wake up and give it my all with all my friends, my family and therapy—giving it 100 percent and striving for a better life,” the CHS graduate pointed out.
The Be Perfect Foundation is the idea of Hal Hargrave, Jr., who became a spinal cord injury victim after being involved in a truck accident in July 2007. Going through ongoing rehabilitation at Project Walk, Casa Colina and the Claremont Club, he found that other recovering spinal cord injury victims had difficulty continuing their rehabilitation due to the lack of financial resources.
As a result his efforts along with family and friends, the idea for the foundation became a reality, starting with Mr. Hargrave, Jr.’s desire to sponsor another person who suffers from a spinal cord injury. According to the National Spinal Cord Injury Statistical Center (NSCISC), lifetime health care costs for spinal cord injury victims can total up to nearly $3 million. (story continues below)
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COURIER photo/Gabriel Fenoy
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| Hal Hargrave Jr. dances with friends and family Saturday night at the Be Perfect Foundation fundraiser. |
At Saturday’s event, Hal Hargrave, Sr. communicated the reality of the financial concerns among many spinal cord injury victims and presented the Be Perfect Foundation as an entity designed to help the cause.
“The foundation will focus its contributing dollars on what we like to think as phase 2 and phase 3 of recovery and that’s the area that we see as exercise-based that is making a difference,” Mr. Hargrave Sr. said. “This isn’t covered by insurance.”
Both the Claremont Little League and the Claremont High School Dugout Club donated $2500 each for a $5000 total donation. Greg Hafif also offered support for the foundation as he announced that the Hafif Estate would set aside 100 tickets for each concert event during the summer Concert Under the Stars series, with the proceeds from the tickets going towards the Be Perfect cause.
“There are people out there that really do need our help,” Mr. Hafif said. “A spinal cord injury is more than a physical injury, but it is an emotional injury as well. Hal Jr. is amazing I just want to say how proud I am of him for what he is doing and what he stands for.”
Mr. Hargrave, Jr. also received a surprise visit in the person of Dante Hall, the wide receiver, kickoff returner and punt returner for the St. Louis Rams. Mr. Hall presented the CHS graduate with a #82 Rams’ jersey and offered words of encouragement.
“If anything was to ever happen to me on the field or in life, I could only pray and hope that I continue to live my life with half the zest that you live yours with,” Mr. Hall told Mr. Hargrave, Jr.
Yet one of the most important things that Mr. Hargrave, Jr. has gotten out of his experience is to be grateful and thankful for the things that truly matter in life, such as his relationships.
“It’s shown me that all the money and all the material things in life are so minor,” he said. “Throughout all of this I’ve met my true friends and it’s all these people here. It’s the people that are here every day, day in and day out at my house. Without relationships in my life and my loved ones not around me, there is no point to it.”
—Landus Rigsby
