The Worcester Red Sox began the weekend at the American Red Cross Central Mass headquarters at 381 Plantation Street in Worcester, where WooSox front office members and Smiley Ball arrived in the WooSox Foundation Care-A-Van, presented by Bank of America.
The WooSox donated tickets, caps, and souvenirs to incentivize more blood donations for the American Red Cross of Central Massachusetts. WooSox Vice President Joe Bradlee and WooSox Coordinator of Marketing & Fan Engagement George Lorin each gave blood on Friday to show their support and help save lives.
“I first became witness to the special relationship the Red Sox has with the American Red Cross back when I was an intern at Fenway in 2012, and have since always tried to donate blood when 9/11 rolls around,” Bradlee said. “It’s exciting for all of us to build upon the relationship here in Worcester, and we look forward to continuing to work with the Red Cross to encourage more people to give blood locally.”
“We’re thankful to the WooSox for supporting our Blood Drive on Friday,” said Nia Rennix, executive director of the Central-Western Mass Chapter of the American Red Cross. “We are always working hard to encourage more local donor turnout, and we applaud the Worcester Red Sox for helping us galvanize local community members to help us save lives.”
And after welcoming more than 3,000 people to Polar Park for the second annual Food Truck & Craft Beer Festival on Saturday, September 10, the team continued their weekend support of first responders by donating 450 tickets, each with $10 of loaded value, to every firefighter in the City of Worcester. The tickets are for the team’s final “First Responder Wednesday” of the season, presented by National Grid on Wednesday, September 21, at 6:45 p.m.
The team made visits to all 10 fire stations in the City of Worcester, and interacted with firefighters at each station to thank them for their service to the community. The WooSox were also joined by Kevin Hartigan, a retired Worcester Firefighter who now works for the team as an Ambassador at Polar Park.
“I thought that this was a very fitting and thoughtful gesture by the WooSox to thank our Worcester firefighters on 9/11,” Hartigan said. “We hope to see many of them back at Polar Park for our final Wednesday home game of the season on September 21.”
The team also donated tickets for September 21 to every Police Officer in the City of Worcester, and distributed those tickets earlier this week.