Arizona Diamondbacks player Luke Weaver, is part of the league-wide initiative by all 30 MLB Clubs and over 50 Major League players which has raised nearly $1 million, providing over 4 million meals to support childhood hunger prevention in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.

More than 20 million students in the United States and Canada rely on school-provided free or reduced-price meals. With schools shut down, players personally reached out to each other to collect donations as part of the Home Plate Project, a partnership between Major League Baseball, Garth Brooks Teammates for Kids Foundation and Big League Impact, which was founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, and is currently led by Wainwright and Texas Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson.

Garth Brooks said: “We at Teammates are honored to be partnering with Adam and Kyle and the heroes of MLB for another year and another Home Plate Project. Last year’s impact was so great, and this year’s will be even better. I’m really proud of the players who are participating in this project, now when it’s needed most. It’s a joy and a privilege to be part of the healing.” 

Though the initiative was originally scheduled to launch its second year in the fall, Brooks, Wainwright and Gibson realized the urgency and need for children who are unable to attend school in the face of the pandemic. They quickly assembled their charity teams and personally called and sent messages to as many of their fellow players as they could, with many of those players reaching out to their friends around the league. With the help of Brooks’ Teammates for Kids Foundation and on short notice, the network of players and partners was able to raise $937,100 for the effort.       

Melanie LeGrande, Vice President of Social Responsibility, Major League Baseball, said: “Major League Baseball commends our partners in the Home Plate Project, including the dozens of Players, who are generously supporting the most vulnerable members of our society. Childhood hunger is an often overlooked issue, and it is incredibly gratifying to see our baseball community once again rising to the occasion during this pandemic.”

Teammates for Kids  began with the support of 67 Major League Baseball players who made a pledge to help kids. Since then, more than 5,000 professional athletes from baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, rodeo and racing have joined the TFK team. Since its inception in 1999, the Teammates for Kids Foundation and its network of thousands of professional athletes has distributed funds to charities focusing on children’s health, education, and inner-city outreach, through building Child Life Zones, supporting youth athletic programs, and funding life-saving surgeries.

Big League Impact is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to help meet basic human needs like food, clean water, medical care and shelter, in an effort to restore dignity and hope to people in the US and around the globe. Founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright in 2013, Big League Impact works with 80 MLB players, and has raised more than $4 million for the projects and causes that allow BLI to fulfill its mission.