News

For Immediate Release

September 1, 2020

RED SOX FOUNDATION WELCOMES 12 NEW RED SOX SCHOLARS TO ITS AWARD-WINNING COLLEGE SUCCESS PROGRAM

BOSTON, MA – For the 18^th consecutive year, the Red Sox and Red Sox Foundation have selected and welcomed the newest class of Red Sox Scholars, a college success program managed by the Foundation and presented by Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center (BIDMC), the Official Hospital & Official Health Care Provider of the Boston Red Sox and Fenway Park.

Through the Red Sox Scholars program, the Foundation seeks to empower Boston’s youth to pursue and complete a higher education by providing mentorship and access to academic, professional, and social opportunities starting in 7^th grade, during college, and even post-graduation.

Each year, 12 Boston Public Schools 7th graders are selected and awarded a $10,000 college scholarship. The Red Sox Foundation provides academic, professional, and social support to each student for at least nine years to ensure they graduate from college with as little debt as possible and are prepared to enter the workforce.  The program earned Major League Baseball’s first-ever “Commissioner’s Award for Philanthropic Excellence” in 2010.

This year’s induction of 12 new 7th graders brings the total number of Red Sox Scholars to 313.

“In addition to the new scholars we have just welcomed to the program, we are also proud to see many of our current Scholars graduate from high school and college despite some challenging circumstances,” said Red Sox Foundation Executive Director Bekah Salwasser. “The pandemic has required that we creatively reinvent some of our programming to ensure we were assessing individual needs, maintaining consistent connections, and adapting events to be hosted virtually. Through it all, our Scholars have demonstrated tremendous dedication.”

The Red Sox Scholars program receives funding from American Student Assistance, Aramark, Biogen Foundation, Eastern Bank, Doris Buffett’s Letters Foundation, The Lynch Foundation, Northern Trust and PGA Tour, Sunovion Pharmaceuticals, and Winter-Lehman Foundation as well as by Red Sox Foundation fundraising events. Red Sox outfielder Jackie Bradley Jr. and his wife Erin serve as the Program Captains.

About the Red Sox Foundation

The official team charity of the Boston Red Sox, the Red Sox Foundation has donated to over 1,900 organizations since its creation in 2002, and focused on making a difference in the lives of children, families, Veterans, and communities in need by improving their health, education, and recreational opportunities. Through partnerships with best-in-class organizations in healthcare, the Red Sox have helped raise over $150 million for cancer treatment and research for The Jimmy Fund, supported more than 24,000 Veterans and their families suffering from the “invisible wounds of war” with the Home Base Program, and helped the Dimock Center serve over 19,000 patients annually with health and human services. The Foundation’s self-run education and youth baseball programs have helped 313 Boston Public Schools students with college scholarships, and promotes healthy choices and valuable life skills to more than 2,000 urban youth annually through its RBI baseball and softball program.

A 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the Red Sox Foundation raises funds through special events, corporate sponsorships, and grants. Founded and initially funded by Red Sox Principal Owner John Henry, Chairman Tom Werner, President/CEO Emeritus Larry Lucchino and their partners, the Red Sox Foundation has won numerous awards for the impact of its innovative programs. In 2010, the Foundation’s Red Sox Scholars program was recognized by Major League Baseball with the first-ever “MLB Commissioner’s Award for Philanthropic Excellence.” The Foundation won that same award in 2019 for the Home Base Program, the only MLB team to win the award twice. In 2009, the Red Sox Foundation was honored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Sports Philanthropy Project with the Patterson Award as the nation’s “Best Team Charity in Sports.”  For more information about the foundation, visit redsoxfoundation.org.

About Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a patient care, teaching and research affiliate of Harvard Medical School and consistently ranks as a national leader among independent hospitals in National Institutes of Health funding.

Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center is a part of Beth Israel Lahey Health, a new health care system that brings together academic medical centers and teaching hospitals, community and specialty hospitals, more than 4,000 physicians and 35,000 employees in a shared mission to expand access to great care and advance the science and practice of medicine through groundbreaking research and education.

–RED SOX–