MLB spreads ‘Winter Wishes’ to Boys & Girls Club in Stamford
NEW YORK — It’s the season of giving in Manhattan, the place Major League Baseball staff have been laborious at work serving to these in want through the vacation season.
This 12 months, MLB is supporting the Boys & Girls Club in Stamford, Conn., which helps over 3,000 youngsters in want every year. Over the previous a number of weeks, youngsters from this BGC chapter wrote letters to Santa with their vacation want lists. MLB staff then donated roughly 115 presents to satisfy these requests.
On Monday, two of MLB’s Employee Resource Groups (ERGs) — MLB Women and Athletes to Executives — teamed as much as host “Winter Wishes” and make it as merry and profitable as attainable, with round 75 worker elves pitching in to wrap presents.
“There’s a lot of underserved children in the country that aren’t getting exactly what they want for Christmas,” mentioned Linda Przygodski, senior director of digital initiatives and outgoing co-chair of MLB Women. “Most people that work here have the means to buy a gift that might really make a difference in a kid’s life. I know every employee really loves to do it. When we get together to wrap them, we wanted to continue on that Christmas spirit.”
When contributors arrived at “Winter Wishes,” they got a present with a quantity akin to the kid slated to obtain it. All kinds of presents had been donated, together with dolls, play units and sports activities gear.
From there, staff wrapped and ribboned their presents to perfection earlier than dropping them off behind a counter, able to be whisked away to a toddler in want. For these feeling significantly daring, skateboards and huge stuffed animals supplied extra wrapping challenges.
“Winter Wishes” contributors had been handled to extra than simply an hour of service. There was a raffle containing a number of baseball-themed prizes, and handpicked vacation songs set the temper over the loudspeakers. To additional sweeten the deal, scorching chocolate and cider quenched everybody’s thirst whereas native small companies equipped pastries, cookies and popcorn.
“Something we’ve really made an effort to do was have food here from diverse business partners,” mentioned Melissa Bristol, supervisor of worldwide baseball investigations and compliance and the primary organizer of “Winter Wishes” this 12 months. “It’s placing our cash actually the place our mouth is. If you are a ladies’s useful resource group, why not assist out women-owned companies and diverse-owned companies?
The generosity prolonged westward, as MLB places of work in Boulder, Colo., San Francisco and Costa Mesa, Calif., are internet hosting their very own variations of “Winter Wishes” for native Boys & Girls Clubs. Meanwhile in Stamford, dozens of youngsters are about to have their vacation needs granted.
“The partnership is a very joyful event, a very festive event,” mentioned Rowena Track, CEO of the Boys & Girls Club of Stamford. “It’s to bring normalcy and joy to so many underserved and deserving youth. And we are grateful for that partnership.”
Track ensures that “every child has a wish that gets fulfilled” across the holidays. She famous that the children on the membership are sometimes overcome with emotion when receiving presents from initiatives akin to “Winter Wishes.”
“Some kids break down in tears,” Track mentioned. “If they had given their wish and it is something that they really want to have, and this is the only way for them to have it. … It’s overwhelming for some of the kids. We really are grateful.”
“Winter Wishes” is one in all many ways in which Baseball is giving again across the holidays. On Giving Tuesday (Nov. 29), all full-time MLB staff obtained $25 to donate to a non-profit of their selection. MLB Network lately partnered with the Jersey Cares Coat Drive, which collects and distributes winter put on to New Jersey residents in want each vacation season. There was additionally a program all through November wherein MLB staff wrote vacation notes to ship to navy veterans.
Additionally, through the Winter Meetings, MLB expanded its partnership with the BGCA by holding a charity public sale to fund the institution of a brand new Boys & Girls Club in Uvalde, Texas.
After an hour of laborious work on a cold afternoon, the presents had been wrapped and able to be despatched out to the children in Stamford, who’re little doubt wanting ahead to the vacations already. They’ll obtain the presents someday earlier than Christmas Eve, when their faculty breaks start. By then, Santa Claus shall be nicely on his approach towards spreading vacation magic to youngsters around the globe.
