MLB teams and players providing over 4 million kids’ meals during pandemic
A league-wide initiative by all 30 Major League Baseball Clubs and over 50 MLB players has raised nearly $1 million, providing over 4 million meals to support childhood hunger prevention in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.
More than 20 million students in the United States and Canada rely on school-provided free or reduced-price meals. With schools shut down, players personally reached out to each other to collect donations as part of the Home Plate Project, a partnership between Major League Baseball, Garth Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation and Big League Impact, which was founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, and is currently led by Wainwright and Texas Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson.
Though the initiative was originally scheduled to launch its second year in the fall, Brooks, Wainwright and Gibson realized the urgency and need for children who are unable to attend school in the face of the pandemic. They quickly assembled their charity teams and personally called and sent messages to as many of their fellow players as they could, with many of those players reaching out to their friends around the league. With the help of Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation and on short notice, the network of players and partners was able to raise $937,100 for the effort.
List of Player Ambassadors for Each MLB Club:
(click link to see all members)
- ARI: Luke Weaver
- ATL: Mark Melancon
- BAL: Chris Davis
- BOS: Nate Eovaldi, Mitch Moreland
- CHC: Daniel Descalso, Steven Souza Jr.
- CWS: Steve Cishek
- CIN: Sonny Gray, Michael Lorenzen
- CLE: Brad Hand, Shane Bieber, Nick Wittgren, Jake Bauers
- COL: Daniel Murphy, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story
- DET: Matthew Boyd, Ron Gardenhire
- HOU: Justin Verlander
- KC: Ian Kennedy, Trevor Rosenthal
- LAA: Albert Pujols, Jason Castro
- LAD: Clayton Kershaw
- MIA: Corey Dickerson, Sean Rodriguez
- MIL: Brent Suter
- MIN: Marwin Gonzalez
- NYM: Steven Matz, Michael Wacha
- NYY: DJ LeMahieu, Brett Gardner
- OAK: Stephen Piscotty
- PHI: Aaron Nola, Neil Walker
- PIT: Trevor Williams
- SD: Brian Dozier, Tommy Pham
- SEA: Marco Gonzales
- SF: Hunter Pence
- STL: Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Wainwright
- TB: Charlie Morton, Joey Wendle
- TEX: Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Elvis Andrus, Robinson Chirinos
- TOR: Chase Anderson, Randal Grichuk
- WSH: Yan Gomes
Garth Brooks said: “We at Teammates are honored to be partnering with Adam and Kyle and the heroes of MLB for another year and another Home Plate Project. Last year’s impact was so great, and this year’s will be even better. I’m really proud of the players who are participating in this project, now when it’s needed most. It’s a joy and a privilege to be part of the healing.”
Adam Wainwright said: “Coming together with Garth and his foundation last year for our Home Plate Project was incredibly powerful. We were excited to partner again later this year, but the pandemic the world faces during this time has called for us to act now. Big leaguers from every MLB team felt compelled to jump in with us so we can help feed kids right now when they need it most in their cities. We are grateful for the opportunity to help fill their needs in this most crucial time with this great project.”
Kyle Gibson said: “At Big League Impact, we are always trying to find ways to help players raise money and have an impact in their home cities. Last year when we launched the Home Plate Project with Teammates for Kids and MLB, we knew it was going to be a program that would help kids all across the country who are constantly living with food insecurity. This was something we’ve been looking forward to doing again in August, but with COVID-19 causing the cancellation of schools all across the country, that has limited some kids’ access to free meals that they rely on to survive, and doing it now was an easy decision to make!”
Melanie LeGrande, Vice President of Social Responsibility, Major League Baseball, said: “Major League Baseball commends our partners in the Home Plate Project, including the dozens of Players, who are generously supporting the most vulnerable members of our society. Childhood hunger is an often overlooked issue, and it is incredibly gratifying to see our baseball community once again rising to the occasion during this pandemic.”
Teammates for Kids (www.teammatesforkids.com) began with the support of 67 Major League Baseball players who made a pledge to help kids. Since then, more than 5,000 professional athletes from baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, rodeo and racing have joined the TFK team. Since its inception in 1999, the Teammates for Kids Foundation and its network of thousands of professional athletes has distributed funds to charities focusing on children’s health, education, and inner-city outreach, through building Child Life Zones, supporting youth athletic programs, and funding life-saving surgeries.
Big League Impact (www.BigLeagueImpact.org) is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to help meet basic human needs like food, clean water, medical care and shelter, in an effort to restore dignity and hope to people in the US and around the globe. Founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright in 2013, Big League Impact works with 80 MLB players, and has raised more than $4 million for the projects and causes that allow BLI to fulfill its mission.
(Source: MLB)
Posted by: Richard Webster, Ace News Today / Follow Richard on Facebook and Twitter
