My favorite-most Cub baseball player, Anthony Rizzo, is sponsoring a home run challenge. Every time he hits a home run, I donate $5 to help the families of kids battling cancer. For example, his Foundation regularly foots the bill for parking. Not being a driver, I didn't realize it's not uncommon for hospitals to charge patients as much as $20/day (maybe more!) to park. The average hospital stay for a child or adolescent with leukemia is 6 days. Parents with a sick kid take a week off work (often without pay) and then have to spend $120 on parking, so they're in a financial hole before their child ever receives treatment. Recently, he's been receiving many requests for gas cards. Some families have to drive long distances to get their kids to cancer treatments ... and I'm sure you've seen the escalation of prices at the pump.
Similarly, he's taken care of mortgage and rent payments for struggling families so parents "can focus on healthcare." At the end of last season, he took a group of New York City pediatric cancer patients to FAO Schwartz for toys. This past March, he foot the bill for a group of South Florida pediatric cancer patients (near where he lives in the off season) to visit a petting zoo.
Now we can debate what it means when, in the richest country on earth, families have to depend upon the largesse of a baseball player, but I don't feel like doing that right now. I want to celebrate what Anthony Rizzo is doing.
Here he is on Saturday, hitting his second home run in as many games. I love this shot so much because he's just watching the ball sail heavenward. Notice the bat is still in hand. He doesn't have to promptly drop it and take off for first because, well, that ball is gone.
I adore this man!
BTW, if you know of a child (under 18) who is battling cancer and would like to hear from Rizz, here's a link to his foundation and you can request a letter. If you know of a family struggling under the burden of medical costs, this is where you go, as well, to apply for a grant.
That is an amazing act of service that Rizzo does. One of my grandsons was diagnosed with brain cancer at age 6, so our family knows first hand of the expense involved in that. Organizations such as Rizzo's foundation is a great blessing to so many families. This is really a wonderful, positive thing that helps families in need. Thank you so much for supporting this!
ReplyDeleteWow--what generosity! And I agree, it is a shame that people have to struggle to get treatment.
ReplyDeleteMuch better use of funds than spending $55 million for 10 days in outer space.
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