HOME RUNS THAT HELP

“Home Runs That Help” is the community outreach initiative of the POWER SHOWCASE All-World/All-American Baseball Classic. The “Home Runs that Help” campaign has two components.  Each POWER SHOWCASE participant’s responsibility is to reach out to their community and contact their local Children’s Hospital. They will partner with a local baseball fan that is suffering from a life-threatening medical condition, disability or special need and can even raise financial contributions for their cause.  Once that person has been identified a visit is facilitated and a life-long relationship is cultivated, and forged. All of the home runs hit by the participant are dedicated to that special individual. 

11th PSC HUMANITARIAN AWARD

KELLUM CLARK (MS)
KK CLARK (MS)

“Kellum and KK Clark chose Carter Cline and his family (Meagan – Mom, Brandon – Dad and Baker – Lil Bro) as their “Home Runs that Help” partners.   Brandon is a gifted educator and Meagan is a nurse in our community of Brandon, MS.

Carter was born in 2010 with a  rare birth condition called O.E.I.S. (Cloacal Exstrophy).   It effects 1 in 400,000 live births and is considered by the experts at Johns Hopkins to be the most complex birth disorder to be compatible with life.  The condition caused Carter to be born with many of his organs on the outside of his body.  Carter has already had over 30 surgeries since birth.  Carter also lives with Spina Bifida.   He is very blessed to be able to walk.   Carter will undergo several more surgeries as he gets older to continue to repair his bladder and organ issues as well as other issues as they arise.

When Kellum and KK started learning about the “Home Runs that Help” opportunity their immediate choice for a partner was the Cline family as they are a sweet gift to our Community of Brandon.”

11th PSC HUMANITARIAN AWARD

ANTHONY JARVIS (WV) 

Anthony partnered with Xavier Jacobs for Home Runs that Help.

Xavier has Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and is in a wheel chair. He is a smart, friendly, and active young man. He is a 2016 Graduate of Ripley High School and plans on attending college this fall. He is the son of Cathy and Victor and brother to Remy and Broedy. Over the years he and his family have spent enormous amounts of time helping the school and youth teams in our area. Xavier was an aspiring baseball player before this disease appealed.
My goal is to raise enough money to help pay off the new wheelchair that Xavier has purchased and any other upcoming or past medical bills.

11th PSC HUMANITARIAN AWARD

NOAH DETTMAN (CA)  

Noah partnered with Boston’s Children Hospital for Home Runs that Help
Kaliv was the 5th reported case in USA of having a heart attack while in the womb ..open heart surgery at 2 weeks old and number one on the transplant list now for one year old.

The first home run ball hit by the POWER SHOWCASE participant is signed, labeled with the distance the ball actually traveled and later presented to the partner. A meeting is scheduled and both are photographed prior to the POWER SHOWCASE event. The photo will then be shown on the Jumbo-tron at Marlins Park when the participant is being announced and walking up to the plate before he hits. In addition, the announcer mentions the partners name as well as some prominent information. The event will be broadcast and streamed live world-wide on the POWER SHOWCASE website.

Spalding is donating gold baseballs. On your 15^th out – if you hit a home run with the gold money ball, you’ll multiply your donations by five. 

Kindly make sure that the individuals helping/sponsoring with your specific partners cause are 100% aware of the gold ball and its value.  Example: (Sponsor) John Smith is donating $100 per home run and (player) David has 10 home runs through 14 outs = $1,000.  Now, David hits the gold money ball for a home run on the 15th out and brings the total to $5,000.

POWER SHOWCASE provides the Platform for your son to reach out into your local community, taking the initiative to raise money for his partner’s individual cause.

Spalding does not provide any financial donation (just the gold balls).
POWER SHOWCASE does not provide any financial donation.

John Graham– a 7-year old boy who has been a member of the Long Island Miracle Baseball League for several years.

Nick chose to work with and sponsor the Miracle League Of Long Island raising over $6000 because he also believes that everyone deserves the chance to play baseball!

FL Nicholas Villanti

9th Annual Home Runs that Help Humanitarian Award Winner

Nicholas partnered with Molly Little for Home Runs that Help

In the last few months Nicholas has been a part of many different events. He was a special guest at a local elementary school, Stower’s Elementary Knockin’ Out Cancer mom/son dance as well as the Flavor Run 5K event in Sarasota, FL. Nicholas was also a special guest at a 3rd Annual Holiday Event in Brandon, Fl. He was asked to be the charity of the month at the St. Pete Pier Food Truck Rally this coming weekend and has set up a spaghetti fundraiser on January 13th at the church where Molly attends. Matt Joyce of the Tampa Bay Rays learned of his efforts and autographed a tshirt for auction/raffle and also autographed one for Nicholas to give to Molly.

Nicholas has collected cash and checks from individuals and also has a crowd funding site for credit card donations.. http://www.gofundme.com/NichHonorsMolly.  He is selling Molly bands to friends, neighbors, classmates and teachers. He is also selling tshirts. 

This experience has been life changing for Nicholas and for our whole family. It has allowed us to see how kindness multiplies. A 12 year olds efforts has created a ripple effect like I never imagined. Nicholas has not only been rallying community efforts to help raise awareness for DIPG and raise money for the family to offset medical expenses, but he has also inspired his classmates to help too. Many of the children (and teachers) in Nicholas’ school can be seen wearing bright green “Pray For Molly” bracelets. Many of Nicholas” classmates have helped with fundraisers and call me from time to time asking when the next one is so they too can help. Nicholas is considering starting an organization in Molly’s Honor, that is focused on “kids helping kids”.. His hope is that he can inspire many more children to pay it forward, show thanks for what they have been blessed with and value the importance of blessing others.

So again, thank you for teaching our kids that life isn’t just about baseball. It’s about how can we as human beings not only leave a mark on the baseball field but also in people’s hearts by doing good for others. The reward in doing so has already come back to us ten fold.

“We turned on the competition right before Vito came to the plate,” said Daniel’s father. “We saw him hit that long home run. We were so excited, and when he ended up winning, well, Daniel hasn’t stopped talking about it for weeks.”

The Valley Stream Board of Trustees honored Friscia for the win at their Feb. 9 meeting. At the ceremony, he showed off the ball that left Marlins Park before giving it to his biggest fan.

“It’s all been very surreal,” Friscia said. “I was really glad to be able to do something to make Daniel and his family smile. They certainly would deserve it after all they’ve been through.”

After the meeting, Daniel proudly displayed the ball with a big grin.

“Vito really is a great kid and he’s been so good to my family,” Daniel’s father said. “It was so great to see him win, and giving Daniel his ball is going to make his day for a long, long time.”

“My friend Vito won!” Daniel exclaimed. “I was really happy when he hit the home run…he’s my favorite baseball player.

Canada Matt Carscadden partnered with Kyle & Georgetown Special Olympics for Home Runs that Help

Thanks again to all those that donated to this great cause. We raised $2,165.00 that will go towards the Georgetown Waves swim team and other programs that Special Olympics Georgetown will initiate.

NY Michael Petze has partnered with Anthony  for Home Runs that Help

Douglaston Teen Really Pitches in For Special Olympics

WATCH PETZE’S LOCAL MEDIA

Brandon Wulff: Home Runs That Help

It was a surreal feeling for Brandon Wulff to look up at the big jumbo screen and watch to see his friend Juan’s picture appear there. Competing in the 9^th Annual POWER SHOWCASE at Marlins Park in Miami, the Nevada senior was hoping that he would see Juan’s image so he could use that for more encouragement. He also hoped Juan was watching back home in Las Vegas.

Juan is a nine-year old battling leukemia, and Wulff had partnered with him for the Home Runs That Help benefit of the POWER SHOWCASE. Home Runs That Help is the community outreach initiative of the POWER SHOWCASE All World/All American Baseball Classic. Each showcase participant is responsible to reach out to their community and contact their local Children’s Hospital, teaming with a local baseball fan that is suffering from a life-threatening medical condition, disability or special need. All the home runs hit by that participant are dedicated to that special individual.

Wulff and most other showcase participants also work to earn money for support. Players raise funds through pledges for each home run they hit, and Wulff was able to raise nearly $200 per long-ball. Sponsor partner Spalding also supplies a gold baseball for the final out of each at bat. If the player is able to hit it for a home run it multiplies the sponsor’s pledges/donations by five.

Although Brandon put a good charge into his gold baseball, it just fell short of leaving the outfield at Marlins Park. The senior from Bishop Gorman High School also came just short of advancing to the championship round, finishing in fourth with seven home runs. But he could not help but appreciate all he did accomplish, and what it meant for Juan.

“I was really hoping to win the whole thing for him,” Wulff admitted. “I got into a little bit of a groove but it just didn’t last long enough I guess. I’m not going to get upset because I did what I wanted to do, which was put on a good showing and earn a lot of money for Juan back in Vegas.”

Wulff did walk away with some personal hardware as well. After hitting five home runs in a row, he won the award for the Most Consecutive Home Runs of the showcase.

Written by Rick Duteau

CA – LUCAS HALSTED partnered with Hunter Kilbourn for Home Runs that Help

Media about Lucas and Hunter

IL – Evan has partnered with Kate Mitchell for Home Runs that Help  fight Nemaline Myopathy.

Kate and Evan raised a total of $8214 to help find a treatment for nemaline myopathy.  

PA – JEXTIN PUGH

2012 HOME RUNS THAT HELP HUMANITARIAN AWARD

Jextin’s benefit was awesome tonight! We raised close to $4000.00 for the families!. The weather got a little tricky with some rain at first but it cleared out just when the event started. It was cold though! The bands were great, food  was awesome, and the people had fun! We had a lot of shirt and cause bracelets left over we are going to sell them at the baseball building. We are also going to do some orders for people who couldn’t make it. They could actually make a couple more thousand in t-shirt sales. That’s how many shirts were donated.I actually got so involved with these two families that we are going to continue to help them. Jextin was invited to the Type 1 diabetes walk in May and they want him to cut the ribbon to start the walk this year. We are also going to help Dec. 1 with a bizarre they are having at the Altoona Curve Stadium in our area.I am so glad you have this program it was a great learning  experience for Jextin!  He said he would do again in a heartbeat!!Shannon Pugh

CA – CASEY WORDEN has partnered with Dusty Brandom for Home Runs that Help  Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy

Casey sent out a flyer prior to the tournament. He really had an outstanding response, from commitments of $10-$100 per home run. Making it to the final round for Casey was not only extremely exciting in itself but also helped to raise a couple thousand more dollars for his cause! In total Casey raised over $7500.00 for Coalition Duchenne!!!Casey’s Flyer:
On December 28^th, I will be participating in baseball’s Power Showcase Home Run Derby (www.power-showcase.com), at the Marlins’ new stadium in Miami, FL. Last year the event was played at the Diamondbacks stadium in AZ and it was my first time being involved with this contest. To clarify, a batter gets a total of 25 outs to see how many HR’s he can hit on the major league field. Last year I hit 1 HR with a wood bat and 3 with an aluminum bat for a respectable showing of 4 HR’s. Certainly, this is a wonderful experience for myself; however, it’s also an opportunity to raise money for a super cause!My cause is to win the battle against“Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy.” Each batter has a Home Runs that Help participant of their choice and mine is Dusty Brandom. Dusty and I met in pre-school, but early on, Dusty became afflicted with the Duchenne disease, which attacked his muscles and left him in a wheelchair. For more information on the Duchenne disease, please visit their website at … www.CoalitionDuchenne.org … this site will give you a much better understanding.Last year was my first year at this event and I was able to raise a modest amount of money through family members, but this year I’m hoping to raise a much greater sum of money to fight this disease! I know that this is a difficult time to ask people to consider donating to a charity, but I’m asking you to consider sponsoring me per each HR I hit at this year’s contest. Presently, I’m creating a pledge list and after the event I will be contacting people to collect their checks. All payments will be made payable to Coalition Duchenne and I will submit them all in one package, on behalf of Dusty Brandom. All I need for now is your name, amount per HR, maximum total amount, email address and phone number. Thank you for your time and consideration with this event. By the way, you can watch the event LIVE on-lineAll the information is on the www.power-showcase.com site.

FL -PETER CROCITTO has partnered with Macey Gaskins for Home Runs that HelpLocal High School Baseball Player Raises $6,000.00 for Young Diabetic Fan to Train Lifesaving Service Dog Donated by Her ChurchMartin County, FL—Feb. 18—Peter Crocitto III, a baseball player at South Fork High School, recently combined his passion for the game with his desire to help a special, young local fan suffering from diabetes.  Macey Gaskins is 10-years-old and was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at just 13 months old. When Peter learned that Macey’s family has not had a full night’s sleep since her diagnosis, he knew he needed to do something.  Her parents must check her blood sugar levels while Macey sleeps to prevent her from falling into a diabetic coma.  Realizing that money was the only thing standing in the way of Macey receiving a trained lifesaving Diabetic Alert Dog (D.A.D.), Peter set out to raise the $6,000.00 needed to train the dog that was purchased for her. “I have always loved the game of baseball and I know the benefits and opportunities it has provided me not only as an athlete, but also as a student,” said Crocitto.  “Recently, I also learned how I can use the sport to better the life of a child who is suffering and whose pain I can help minimize just by doing what I love and dedicating it to Macey,” he added. 

Peter partnered with “Home Runs That Help”, a community outreach initiative of the POWER SHOWCASE All-World/All-American Baseball Classic that was held at Marlin Stadium. “Home Runs that Help” campaign has two components.  Each POWER SHOWCASE participant’s responsibility is to reach out to their community and contact their local Children’s Hospital to partner with a local baseball fan that is suffering from a life-threatening medical condition, disability or special need.  A visit is then facilitated and a life-long relationship is forged and cultivated.  All of the home runs hit by the participant are dedicated to that special individual. The first home run ball hit by the POWER SHOWCASE participant is signed, labeled with the distance the ball actually traveled and later presented to the partner.

With Macey in his heart and on his mind, Peter hit eight home runs at the POWER SHOWCASE Home Run Derby at Marlins Park raising $6,000.00.  Last week, Peter presented Macey and her family with his signed baseball and gloves and the $6,000.00 raised through his efforts and generous donations, which fully paid for the service dog’s necessary training. 

Peter said that Macey now has Nikki, a friend and partner, and he shared his thanks with all of the individuals who helped to make this happen.  Nikki is nearly complete with her obedience training and is set to begin six weeks to six months of D.A.D. training.  She will be trained to recognize and immediately alert on the scent of Macey’s low and high blood sugar levels.

“Knowing this could potentially save Macey’s life and provide her family some much needed rest and relief is more rewarding than any home run I could hit,” Crocitto said.

PA – Jextin Pugh has partnered with Johnny Fleck and Zachary Treese for Home Runs that Help

VIEW LOCAL MEDIA ABOUT JEXTIN’S BENEFITJextin’s benefit was awesome tonight! We raised close to $4000.00 for the families!. The weather got a little tricky with some rain at first but it cleared out just when the event started. It was cold though! The bands were great, food  was awesome, and the people had fun! We had a lot of shirt and cause bracelets left over we are going to sell them at the baseball building. We are also going to do some orders for people who couldn’t make it. They could actually make a couple more thousand in t-shirt sales. That’s how many shirts were donated.I actually got so involved with these two families that we are going to continue to help them. Jextin was invited to the Type 1 diabetes walk in May and they want him to cut the ribbon to start the walk this year. We are also going to help Dec. 1 with a bizarre they are having at the Altoona Curve Stadium in our area.I am so glad you have this program it was a great learning  experience for Jextin!  He said he would do again in a heartbeat!!Shannon PughVIEW JEXTIN’S BENEFIT

NJ – COREY LERCHE,17 HITS A HOMERUN FOR GO4THEGOAL PEDIATRIC CANCER FOUNDATION

May 9,2012–Merchantville,NJ:
Corey Lerche, a 17 year old senior at St.Joseph Regional High School in Montvale,NJ has taken his home run hitting talents at the plate to help raise money for Go4theGoal Pediatric Cancer Foundation. In 2011, influenced by Brian Domenico, President of Power Showcase, Corey sponsored Sean DePatto, a 9-­‐year old boy battling leukemia when he participated with the top 100 high school power-hitters from around the world at the Power Showcase at Arizona Diamondbacks Chase Field in Phoenix. So touched by Sean’s courageous battle, Corey made it a personal mission to help others suffering from pediatric cancer.Sean passed away in February 2012, which touched Corey very deeply. “This experience has taught me to appreciate things in my own life knowing what other kids go through,” says Corey. Before Sean passed away, Corey had learned of pediatric cancer foundation Go4theGoal (G4G) and its “Lace-­‐Up4PediatricCancer” movement. He approached his baseball coach, Frank Salvano, and immediately received approval for the St.Joe’s baseball team to wear-­‐and sell-­‐Go4theGoal’s signature NEON yellow shoelaces as the kickoff to a major campaign to raise money for G4G’s pediatric cancer programs.