Irmo High alum Leeza Gibbons brings Celebrity Apprentice winnings back home

For Immediate Release – July 11, 2016

Irmo High alum Leeza Gibbons brings Celebrity Apprentice winnings back home

IRMO – They say home is where the heart is and that is certainly the case for Emmy award-winning talk show host Leeza Gibbons. The Irmo High School alum and 2015 winner of NBC’s Celebrity Apprentice honored her pledge of bringing home her prize money worth more than $700,000 to open Leeza’s Care Connection in Irmo.

“I grew my values here,” Gibbons said at the ribbon cutting ceremony on July 7. “They have served me well to build my career and grow my relationships and my family hopefully reflective of these values. I learned so much about leadership, taking care of each other, about inclusion and tolerance at Irmo High School. Those things have never left me.”

Leeza’s Care Connection is a nonprofit offering free services to help families facing Alzheimer’s disease and other chronic illnesses. Gibbons launched her foundation 14 years ago and has since become a leading voice for family caregivers. It is the fulfillment of promise Gibbons made to her mother, Jean Gibbons, who died of Alzheimer’s in 2008. Before passing, Gibbons told her mother she would “Tell the story and make it count.”

“This is my home,” Gibbons said. “They say you can’t go home again, but that is a lie. This is the most beautiful homecoming and everyone here has participated in ways that are unprecedented. I am so inspired and so proud to be from this wonderful community.”

The energetic, uplifting, caregiver-focused center is a place to get educated, find resources, gain confidence and connect with others on a similar journey so no one has to feel they are walking this path alone. It serves as a safe place for people to share experiences, be heard and develop the necessary skills to handle the constantly changing demands of caregivers. Leeza’s Care Connection provides an environment for family members to care for themselves while caring for another, so both the care provider and the care receiver get the best possible outcome.

“This is destiny in action,” Gibbons said. “That’s exactly how I feel about it. This is where mom lived, loved and died. I saw my father take a major pivot as caregivers have to do. He emerged as an inspirational, dedicated, tireless provider for my mother.”

Gibbons’ father Carlos will play a significant role at the center as he introduces Pops’ Poetry Corner to the Creative Expression program in Leeza’s Care Connection. There, Gibbons will share lifesaving strategies he used while caring for his wife. “Today is all about praise and recognition,” Gibbons said. “This day is about all the wonderful people in this community who have helped this vision come to life.”

“We are very proud to have Leeza as a District Five alumnus,” said District Five Superintendent, Dr. Stephen Hefner. “She is using her celebrity to make a positive difference in our community and across the country. Many lives will be enhanced because of her kindness and vision.”