The Red Sox Foundation Inc

I have been volunteering for the Red Sox Foundation since 2009. I have also been a donor too. I would have selected both roles but that was not an option. Once I started volunteering at RSF and saw the dedication of their small nimble staff and the loyalty of the other volunteers, donating was an natural next step. On average every year, I volunteer about 100 hours for the RSF per year and donate about $100-$200 per year. It is an added plus being able to meet the beneficiaries of the RSF. Each year, we meet Red Sox Scholars who are low income students who each recieve a scholarship for college. At the annual Run or Walk to Homeplate event, we meet veterans (men and women) who have served our country faithfully and now are living with PTSD or BTI and use the services of Mass General Hospital's Homebase Program. It is quite an emotional event which really solidifies why I keep coming back. I do volunteer for other orgranizations too but the RSF is always at the top of my list.

I have had the honor to be a member of the Red Sox Foundation as a volunteer since 2008. I am impressed with the dedication of everyone affiated with this program. The employees and volunteers work hard with sometime long hours in the rain, cold and heat without complaining. When you meet the Red Sox Scholars and others who benefit from the program and the smiles on their faces it is all worth it.

I have been volunteering with the Red Sox Foundation for the last 4 years. Not only do I take with me an amazing feeling of accomplishment whenever I am there, I am humbled by the incredible staff and all of the hard work that they do day in and day out. The programs that benefit from the Foundation play such an important role in the community and I am thankful everyday to know that I contributed to something that has changed so many lives for the better.

My personal experience with the Red Sox Foundation started in 2005. I wanted to do something positive for kids. At the time I was working at a company that had a website providing a plethora of charitable organizations in which to take part. Too many from which to choose. Information overload so to say. So to soothe my weary eyes from all the reading, I decided to get tickets to a Red Sox game and went to redsox.com to buy my tickets. I saw a link for Community. I clicked and I signed up. They called me, I went. My life has been different ever since. The people of the Red Sox Foundation are a family themselves and have welcomed me into it. I have volunteered with a few other charities and none receive and welcome volunteers they way the Red Sox Foundation does theirs. My heart has grown by leaps and bounds just knowing them and the work they do and bring me into….I love every waking, hard working moment.
Their programs go from scholarship programs to helping soldiers and their families to getting equipment and uniforms to kids so they can play ball to helping make a community center a better place to be. Their programs encompass some vital aspects of our communities. These are a very few of the things they are a part of.
To begin, the Red Sox Scholar Program provides 5th grade kids with scholarships for college and the Foundation does not just say, hey, here you go, here is cash to go to college, be on your way. Nope. The kids go through quite the process to earn the scholarship. Then the Foundation works with them through their high school career to graduation reaching out to them and their parents regularly, checking in on them, making sure they have tutors if needed and just doing things with them and for them to get them up and running so they can get a higher education and a step up to a better life. I have been able to be a part of helping with this program by helping some graduating high school students write their first resumes and been there when the Foundation provided graduating high school students with classes to assist with their college applications and the financial aid process. The Foundation staff have driven to kids houses to pick them up so they can take part …It amazes me how much of themselves they put into the kids and the Red Sox Scholar program.
Then there is the Home Base program, a joint effort program with Mass General Hospital to assist soldiers who are coming back from Iraq and Afghanistan with PTSD and brain injury and their families. It warms my heart that the Red Sox Foundation is part of something to help our soldiers in such a profound way. I have seen Foundation staff take a personal interest in assisting soldiers who need a little help to get squared away with the help they may need. And again, they have allowed me to take part with this incredibly important thing we, as civilians, should take part in and support our soldiers.
In addition to the Home Base program, the Foundation also goes out to some VA hospitals coordinating spruce up/clean up and renovations. I have had the distinct honor of assisting the Brockton VA Hospital and New Haven, CT VA hospital with clean up/spruce up efforts with the Red Sox Foundation. This has been one of my most favorite things to do…I love getting the call, “hey, we are going to do this, are you available….um, YES!“
RBI programs, this is fun for me. The Red Sox Foundation provides uniforms and equipment to inner city baseball and softball programs. They order the shirts, pants, catchers’ equipment, gloves for the teams…a bunch of teams. After a lot of communication and coordination between the Red Sox Foundation Staff and team coaches, the volunteers get the call for bunker day. I love the bunker. Sort shirts and pants by team and bag them up with needed equipment for the team for coaches to collect and distribute to the kids. Yeah, this is fun for me. The Foundation staff thinks I am crazy for liking bunker day. We are usually very tired and dirty by the end of it.
The Dimock Community Center. As a volunteer, I have had the privilege of helping with sprucing up and making the teen and detox center a much happier place. I know the Foundation is often in contact with the center and I constantly ask when we can go back and do more….the Foundation has touched hearts at Dimock and opened my eyes yet again.
Simply put, the Red Sox Foundation staff cares.
As you can see, I have been with the Foundation for awhile….what I have written here is simply a snippet of all they do and who they are. In all, the people of the Red Sox Foundation have touched, and not just shown up, but intricately been part of and supported, so many people in a positive way in not just the Boston community, but the New England community and in some cases, outside of New England. The people of the Red Sox Foundation are the most hard working, charitable people I may know and I thank my lucky stars I went looking for some Red Sox tickets and signed up on the community page… I love what they do. It’s one reason why I have been volunteering with them for so long, that and the staff.

I have volunteered for the Red Sox Foundation with my husband for 7+ years. They do so many great things for our young people and our veterans, and I'm proud to be a part of such an amazing organization. Some examples include helping students in the Red Sox Scholars program, assisting with the Run to Home Base program, and participating in community service projects in our neighborhoods.
To elaborate, we helped some of the Red Sox Scholars senior class as they were preparing college applications. We helped them navigate through the process of choosing a college, submitting applications and writing essays.
With the Run to Home Base program, we've assisted with race day activities. We distributed bib numbers to the runners, helped create care packages to send to our troops overseas, and assisted on the field as runners entered Fenway Park and crossed home plate - the pinnacle of “the Run.” Seeing veterans and their families participating on race day was very emotional, and gave me tremendous pride to be part of something so meaningful.
Finally, the community service projects. We have helped spruce up the VA hospital in Brockton and the children's center and detox center at Dimock Community Center. But my biggest joy came from being part of the volunteer effort that rebuilt a baseball field in Monson, MA. The field was destroyed by the tornadoes that swept through western Massachusetts last June. Approximately 40 volunteers worked one Saturday last Fall to lay down new dirt in the infield, build new bleachers, and plant bushes around the perimeter of the ball field. My husband I and stayed in touch with one local family, and went back to visit the field in June. We got to see Derek's team win a playoff game, which led them to the title game, which they also won, being crowned champions of their division. To be part of that whole process - from rebuilding the field, to visiting the team, to seeing them win - well, it was just priceless for me.
The Red Sox Foundation staff is so dedicated to their cause, and their passion is contagious. Though only a small group, they are the heart and soul of all the programs the Foundation supports. Along with the hundreds of volunteers they’ve invited in, they have created an enormous network of people who are all working together to accomplish great things.
I am so honored to be part of this organization, and grateful to call many of the staff and fellow volunteers life-long friends.

The Red Sox Foundation (RSF) is an incredible organization dedicated to serving those who are less fortunate than most of us. My wife and I have been volunteering and supporting RSF for the past 8 years and have been inspired to try and do more for others as a result of their work. The scholar program is amazing. Watching children transform themselves into proud, confident, and caring young adults proves to me that we all can make a difference in someone else's life by getting involved. The Run to Home Base program serves veterans returning from service who suffer from Post Tramautic Stress Disorder and/or tramautic brain injuries. But it is much more than that. It serves not only the veteran but their family as well. Considering the amount of sacrifice the men and women in the military make for all of us, I think it is our obligation to pay them back in any way possible. RSF has a small dedicated staff who have recruited hundreds of volunteers to work with them to accomplish their goals of helping others. Their work is amazing and we encourage our friends and families to get involved.