February Magic Maker: Corey Warner

Every month the Magic and Fifth Third Bank selects a community member as the Orlando Magic “Magic Maker” presented by Fifth Third Bank for their dedication and significant contribution to the Orlando community. This month 12-year-old Corey Warner is recognized for his outstanding charitable efforts toward poor, abused and abandoned children throughout Central Florida.

What started out as a school project to do seven and a half hours of community service for Corey’s language-arts class at Sanford Middle School turned into an effort to continuously raise money and items for needy children in and around Central Florida.

Warner has done more for the community in his twelve short years than most have done in a lifetime. During Thanksgiving in 2006, Corey collected 5,000 cans of food and 760 pounds of turkey to feed 400 abandoned, abused or impoverished children. For Christmas he bought the children 200 Christmas toys, on Easter he offered them a ham dinner, during the summer he arranged for them to attend summer camp and in September, he held a back-to-school book bag drive complete with free haircuts, eyeglasses and a pizza party.

Warner did not stop there, however. He continued his fundraising efforts this past Thanksgiving, when he topped his 2006 numbers by feeding nearly 700 children and struggling families. He has even written a letter to Governor Charlie Crist trying to make child abuse awareness a part of school curriculum and has enlisted five schools to launch a “Can Child Abuse” food drive, which helps collect canned food items for impoverished children.

Warner is continuously striving to make a difference and says he still has much more to achieve when it comes to helping others. He wants to get the word out on the importance of stopping child abuse so others can be more aware and hopefully help in the fight against it. His dream job is to one day open up his own veterinary service clinic to ‘always be helping something in need.’

Until then, however, Warner says that he will not give up on doing his part to help abused children, saying that as long as he is here, he will be lending a helping hand. And even though he does not have to continue his efforts, Warner still does so out of his love for helping others.

“It is a sensational feeling that is impossible to explain,” said Warner. “I feel so refreshed each time I help these abused kids. They have a terrible life and need people to love and care for them and I am the perfect person for the job. (Being a kid) helping kids is the richest moment in my life.”