News
Jays making difference through foundation
More than $1 million donated to youth causes in Toronto in '09
By Jordan Bastian / MLB.com
11/25/09 4:00 PM EST
TORONTO -- The Blue Jays never doubt that their players will step up and agree to help out with community initiatives. When the players go above and beyond what is expected, though, it always means so much to everyone involved.
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Over the past year, members of the Blue Jays came through again, offering their time and support to multiple programs and projects tied to the organization's Jays Care Foundation. With the holiday season in full swing, it is an appropriate time to look at how much the team has given back in 2009.
"I don't think we have a guy on our team who would say 'No,'" said Danielle Silverstein, the executive director of the Jays Care Foundation. "We have a great group of guys. I don't think there's one guy who wouldn't lend his time, especially when he gets to show kids what he loves about baseball."
The Jays Care Foundation will have poured more than $1 million into various programs and outreach initiatives in 2009, dedicating its resources to health, fitness and education projects all around the Greater Toronto Area. As a result, more than 12,500 children will have been helped in some way, and many will have experienced memorable moments with members of the Jays.
One of the main programs -- Rookie League -- continued to grow in 2009. This year, the baseball league served more than 500 children from 24 communities within Toronto Community Housing, adding more than 100 kids to the mix. Blue Jays center fielder Vernon Wells volunteers as the honorary commissioner of the Rookie League, and other players have helped out as well.
"We've continued with Rookie League -- that's grown," Silverstein said. "Vernon is a large part of it, but this year, Aaron Hill came out, too, and Roy Halladay lended his name to one of the divisions, and so did Adam Lind."
Silverstein noted that Wells and Lind are scheduled to be on hand in December to celebrate the official opening of one of the Jays Care Foundation's latest completed projects. As part of the Field of Dreams program, which has helped renovate 11 baseball fields over the past seven years and now aims to create safe-use spaces for children, the foundation built a youth zone at a YMCA in Scarborough, Ontario.
The newly completed youth zone includes an area dedicated to encouraging physical activity and a computer lab that was designed to look similar to the Blue Jays' clubhouse at Rogers Centre.
"There are all kinds of interactive games," Silverstein said. "And there is a computer lab as well for homework and whatnot. We donated to basically build and construct the space. The lab, we actually took photographs of the actual lockers in the clubhouse and animated it a bit. When you're sitting at the computer, it looks like you're sitting at a clubhouse locker."
Jays Care has similar builds in the works, and the foundation has also teamed with YMCA fitness centers all around the Toronto area for other initiatives. One includes donating baseball equipment and providing curriculum that will help teach kids about the game and also teach them leadership skills and promote teamwork.
During this past season, a pair of players also helped out for two unique baseball experiences for some fortunate young fans.
The Jays auctioned off a pitching clinic with Halladay and a hitting lesson with Hill in June. The person who purchased the pitching clinic donated it back to the Jays Care Foundation, which was able to have two boys from Toronto Community Housing work with Halladay. The hitting lesson was purchased by a father of two boys -- one with Down syndrome -- from Alberta.
"It was a pretty neat thing," Silverstein said. "Aaron did the hitting lesson with the two of them, and they were just over the moon. It was supposed to be a 20-minute lesson, and Aaron spent two hours with them."
Beyond helping out with the pitching clinic, Halladay continued to host the Doc's Box program, which gives underprivileged kids the opportunity to watch a baseball game from the pitcher's luxury suite and a chance to meet him. Halladay doubled the host dates from six to 12 in 2009 and worked with Jays Care in expanding the program.
Besides hosting children from Sick Kids Hospital, Doc's Box also included working with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and the Self Esteem Academy Singers. In all, more than 175 kids and their family members attended Doc's Box in '09, leading to many special stories and memories for several of the people involved.
"We had some kids come to Doc's Box from a mental-health unit," Silverstein recalled. "We had one little girl that it was her first time out of the hospital in more than 14 months. These little stories show how important it is just to have that time and that space, and it's fortunate that we get to do it through baseball and through the games and with the players."
Last July, Halladay had his name come up in trade rumors, and there is a chance that the Blue Jays may listen to trade offers for the ace pitcher again this offseason. Silverstein tries not to think about the possibility that Jays Care might lose the pitcher, but knows that he is hardly the only player making an impact in the community.
"I did an interview back when all the trade rumors were happening in July," Silverstein said, "and I said my answer to that is, 'We put our fingers in our ears and we say, "La-La-La-La-La," and pretend it's not going to happen.' The reality is this is a sport that we're in. It would be a great loss to the team, to the city, to the kids, to the foundation. Roy and [his wife] have been tremendous."
Jordan Bastian is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
