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Photo courtesy of Kroc Center Chicago
Baseball team works with volunteers to enhance community.
By Jared McKiernan
Over 200 volunteers from the Chicago White Sox, The Salvation Army, KaBOOM! and residents of the local community teamed up to build a playground at the newly constructed Ray and Joan Kroc Corps Community Center in Chicago, Ill., on Aug. 10.
Many of the volunteers were surprised when several members of the White Sox arrived to the event. Second baseman Orlando Hudson, Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf, and pitching coach Don Cooper were just a few members of the ball club to participate.
“[The White Sox] were really the first group to get behind the project,” said Chicago Kroc Center Officer, David Harvey. “They see the potential difference it can make in the community.”
Prior to construction, Chicago White Sox Charities—the team’s philanthropic arm—generously donated $1 million to The Salvation Army Chicago Metropolitan Division to help build the Kroc Center in Chicago’s West Pullman neighborhood. Several baseball and softball diamonds are just some of the recreational facilities that make up the new Kroc Center, where White Sox inner-city youth teams will play and train.
“We are so proud to partner with The Salvation Army,” said Christine O’Reilly, executive director of Chicago White Sox Charities. “We are also a contributor to the Kroc Center, and we use the baseball field as home base on the south side for the White Sox youth baseball program. We are here for the long haul.”
The commitment to help build the Kroc Center is the fourth $1 million donation White Sox Charities has made since it launched, according to O’Reilly.
“Their gift was really what sparked a lot of the other fundraising from around the city,” Harvey said. “We’re building a great relationship with them.”
Following in the path of their city’s fellow pro sports team, the Chicago Bulls also donated $1 million toward the construction of the Kroc Center.
The design for the new playground is based on drawings created by children, who participated in KaBOOM!’s Design Day event in June. Some of the elements taken from the kids’ sketches were a rock wall, a miniature fire truck, and several tunnels.
Several White Sox players and Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf spoke to the volunteers about the importance of kids staying off drugs and simply having a safe place to come to and enjoy themselves.
“The professionalism that [the White Sox] bring is great,” Harvey said. “I think this is what the Krocs would have wanted to see.”
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