Cal Ripken Jr.'s Foundation Donates $100,000 To Feeding America To Support Families Dealing With Food Insecurity Amid Coronavirus Pandemic
BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- Baltimore Orioles legend and Baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken Jr. has long avoided being on social media.
That's why it was a surprise Tuesday morning to see the Hall of Famer pop up on Twitter with a new tweet.
In the video, Ripken Jr. said that now is the right time for him to join social media in order to attempt to help make an impact on the lives of those struggling with food insecurity amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Ripken Jr. announced that his foundation, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, would be starting a new campaign called "Strike Out Hunger" in partnership with the non-profit Feeding America.
"All of us are being impacted by the current crisis, but some are being impacted more than others. For years, our foundation, the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation, has helped kids throughout the country through our after school programs and the building of parks to provide safe places for them to play and learn," Ripken Jr. said. "We have decided to temporarily shift the focus of our foundation to address the more pressing needs of the families we impact who are struggling with food insecurity."
In the video, Ripken Jr. states that the foundation will be contributing the initial $100,000 to Feeding America as part of the campaign and asks fans to help contribute as well by visiting the foundation's website.
In addition to the foundation's initial contribution, Ollie's Bargain Outlet and the Kevin Harvick Foundation are joining to give another $100,000 to the effort.
"I think we all sat around and said, 'Okay, what's a normal business? What are we going to do going forward when everything goes back to normal?' We said, you know what, we don't have to wait. We can shift our focus to helping the current needs," Ripken Jr. said.
His handle, @CalRipkenJr, is where you can visit his Twitter page, or ripkenfoundation.org to find out how you help strike out hunger.
"One dollar given is 10 meals distributed which, $5, $10 can go a long way,"
Feeding America estimates over the next six months, $1.4 billion in additional resources will be needed to provide enough food for those in need, making the Strike Out Hunger Campaign even more important.
