PUBLIC INVITED TO FENWAY PARK TO CHEER PARTICIPANTS
OF THE 2012 RUN-WALK TO HOME BASE PRESENTED BY NEW BALANCE, SUNDAY, MAY 20
Red
Sox Foundation to Collect School Supplies this Weekend for Schools in
Afghanistan Named in Honor of Fallen Military Members from New England
BOSTON, MA –The Red
Sox Foundation, the award-winning official team charity of the Boston
Red Sox, continues its support of wounded veterans who served in Iraq
and Afghanistan by inviting fans to attend the 2012 Run-Walk to Home Base Presented by New Balance at Fenway Park on Sunday May 20th.
Opening
Ceremonies begin inside Fenway Park at approximately 7 a.m. The public
is invited to Fenway Park to help cheer on some 2,000 military and
civilians participating in the May 20 fundraiser, which ends with
registered participants crossing the timed finish line in front of the
Green Monster and a photo finish crossing home plate at the 100 year-old
ballpark. The event features free family activities in the Fenway
Concourse areas, including a Military Appreciation Area by BAE Systems,
where fans will assemble over 1,000 care packages for troops now serving
in Afghanistan.
Those who know a military member currently deployed in Afghanistan until July 1st or later can email their name and full APO military address to military@redsox.com before Thursday, May 17 to have that service member added to the list to receive a care package.
Fans
can also donate new school supplies prior to the Red Sox games against
the Cleveland Indians at Fenway Park this weekend, Friday, May 11,
through Sunday, May 13. The supplies will be shipped to several new
schools recently opened in Afghanistan that were built and named in
honor of fallen military members from New England.
Fans
interested in making a donation are asked to bring new school supplies
such as small notebooks, pencils, or crayons to the Red Sox Foundation
raffle desks at Gates A, D, B, C, and the EMC level. Those not attending
this weekend’s games who wish donate supplies can bring them to Fenway
Park on the morning of the Run-Walk to Home Base on Sunday, May 20
starting at 6:00 a.m. Fans can enter through Gate B, across from Fenway
High School at Ipswich and Van Ness.
Funds raised through the 2012 Run-Walk support The Red Sox Foundation and MGH Home Base Program,
which serves wounded veterans returning from Afghanistan and Iraq with
traumatic brain injury and PTSD and their families. Over the past 2
years, the event has raised over $5 million for the program.
The
2012 Run-Walk to Home Base Presented by New Balance also includes a
Family Fun Zone, an opportunity to take pictures with Red Sox Legends
Bill Lee and Jim Lonborg, Wally the Green Monster and the 2004 and 2007
World Series Trophies and exhibits by military and veterans groups and
sponsors. As part of Fenway’s 100th Anniversary celebrations,
fans will cheer on participants as they enter Fenway Park through the
Centerfield rollup gate and finish the last leg of their Run/Walk.
Weather permitting, fans will be allowed to stroll Fenway’s Warning
Track once the Run-Walk participants complete their athletic fundraiser.
A full schedule of the event is available on www.runtohomebase.org
About the Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital Home Base Program
The Red Sox Foundation and Massachusetts General Hospital’s Home Base Program
provides independent and confidential clinical services and counseling
to veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars with traumatic brain injury
and/or post-traumatic stress disorder and their families. In an effort
to de-stigmatize these injuries and encourage veterans to seek
evaluations and treatment, Red Sox chairman Tom Werner jumpstarted the
effort and in late 2009, the Red Sox Foundation teamed up with MGH to
create a new philanthropic partnership called the Red Sox Foundation and MGH Home Base Program.
The
nonprofit initiative has four components including a Veterans Clinic
offering confidential evaluation and treatments for veterans struggling
with PTSD and TBI; Family Support Services providing counseling for
families of veterans with these two common and often invisible wounds;
Research to improve the evaluation, treatment and prevention of PTSD and
TBI; and Community Education, providing local providers, clergy, social
workers and community leaders with more information about these two
injuries.
For more information about the 2012 Run-Walk to Home Base Presented by New Balance, including the race route, please visit www.runtohomebase.org
