RED SOX DESIGNATE AUGUST AS “JIMMY FUND MONTH”
Pan-Mass Challenge August 2-3; Radiotelethon August 19-20;
Patients to be honored at Fenway Park Throughout the Month;
Brock Holt to Visit Jimmy Fund Clinic Today
BOSTON, MA – As the Red Sox celebrate 61 years of partnership with the Jimmy Fund, August will again be designated as “Jimmy Fund Month,” with the club paying tribute to the Jimmy Fund’s remarkable efforts in cancer research, treatment, and care in children and adults at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.
To launch the month-long tribute, the Red Sox’ Brock Holt will visit with patients at the Jimmy Fund Clinic today, August 1, at 11 a.m.
Prior to each home game throughout the month of August, a Jimmy Fund patient will be honored and will then deliver the game ball to the pitcher’s mound.
August begins and ends with large fundraisers for the team’s official charity. This year is the 11th anniversary of the Red Sox Foundation’s sponsorship of the Pan-Mass Challenge, which takes place August 2-3. This year is also the 13th annual Red Sox Jimmy Fund Radiotelethon on WEEI and NESN, which takes place August 19-20.
The relationship dates back to 1947, when Hall of Famer Ted Williams began visiting patients, often before arriving at the ballpark just up the street. His role as a pioneer in the development of the Jimmy Fund is commemorated in the bronze statue of him with a Jimmy Fund child that stands outside Gate B at Fenway Park.
The Jimmy Fund was formally launched in 1948 when the Variety Club of New England (now known as the Variety Children’s Charity of New England) organized a radio broadcast from the bedside of pediatric cancer patient Carl Einar Gustafson, who was nicknamed “Jimmy” because at the time, the stigma of cancer dissuaded people from revealing their names. Members of the Boston Braves took part in this fundraising broadcast, helping raise enough money to purchase a new television set for Jimmy.
From those origins, the Braves began an association with the Jimmy Fund, but when they moved from Boston to Milwaukee in 1953, the Red Sox adopted the Jimmy Fund as their official team charity. The ensuing partnership is the longest of its kind in the history of sport.
The new owners of the Red Sox introduced the radiothon on WEEI in 2002, and NESN added television coverage in 2003. That event alone over the years has generated more than $34.2 million.
The club also became a prominent sponsor of the Pan-Mass Challenge, created by Billy Starr, which has raised a stunning $414 million in its history.
This year, the Jimmy Fund paid tribute to the Red Sox’ longstanding partnership. On May 29, Dr. Edward J. Benz, CEO and President of Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, unveiled new Red Sox signage on the outside of the Charles A. Dana Building on Brookline Avenue, presented a new Boston Red Sox Jimmy Fund Gallery in the Dana Building lobby chronicling the history of the relationship, and re-named the Dana Building auditorium as the “Boston Red Sox Jimmy Fund Auditorium.”
波士頓大陳同鄉會昨（三）日中午在納堤克（Natick）鎮柯奇維特（Cochituate）州立公園烤肉聚餐，即席捐款二千餘元，為濟助台灣高雄遭遇氣爆事故的慘重傷亡，聊表心意。
昨日本是大陳同鄉會重振氣勢的歡樂聚會，有不下六十人出席，創會會長周仙梅，元老會長吳繼福，現任會長梁娜玲等人分頭準備烤肉，烤小雞腿，生菜沙拉，甜洋芋，煮玉米，西瓜等食物，安排活動，還買來蛋糕為八月添壽的老鄉鮑友寶慶生，會場洋溢熱情。
駐波士頓台北經濟文化辦事處副處長陳銘俊，波士頓華僑文教中心主任郭大文，波士頓僑務委員馬滌凡，與大陳同鄉情誼深厚的波克萊台商會顧問游勝雄等嘉賓到賀，更添氣氛。
波士頓華僑文教中心主任郭大文祝賀大陳同鄉郊遊活動辦得成功之餘，抱歉的表示，他昨早和僑委會委員長通過電話，接獲指令，要向僑社報告台灣高雄前鎮區，苓雅區一帶，發生多起氣爆事件，已有28人死亡，近300人受傷等災情。由於馬公、高雄之間的瓦斯管線在氣爆意外中炸毀，切斷了生產鏈，讓台灣與石化業有關的生產製造，幾乎全部停擺，面對著約一日五億元的經濟損失。由於炸毀的管線修復耗時，高雄氣爆事故造成的影響，恐將比九二一大地震，以及其後的風災等，更加重大。目前台灣境內民眾，企業發起的捐款，已不下六億元台幣。僑委會希望僑胞們若有人捐款，通知一下僑委會，好讓僑委會代表僑胞們陳述“故鄉有難，僑胞關心”。
