Arizona Diamondbacks shortstop Nick Ahmed joined the D-backs organization more than a decade ago, and immediately prioritized giving back as part of a deeply personal and faith-guided commitment to baseball and his community. Nick, in his 10th season with Arizona, is being celebrated as the current player with the longest tenure in a D-backs uniform. While Nick is most often recognized for his powerful defense, including two Rawlings Gold Glove Awards, his true impact is his family’s humble and generous commitment to a growing list of causes in Arizona and in communities across the country and world.
In his early days as a D-back, Nick and his wife, Amanda, dedicated their Friday nights to serving hundreds of dinners to hungry families living with housing instability at St. Vincent de Paul, a community shelter focused on feeding, clothing, housing and healing.
Nick continues to be a leader in both the clubhouse and community, helping the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation and St. Mary’s Food Bank open a food pantry at a local school. Nick and Amanda helped stock the pantry with more than 10,000 pounds of canned food and non-perishable items. They have committed to reloading the pantry each month for breakfast and lunch in school, and also so that kids at the school will be able to take food home, helping secure three meals a day for students and their families.
Nick and Amanda have also impacted countless lives through serving at Phoenix Children’s Hospital, YMCAs, Boys & Girls Clubs, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, low-income schools, Operation Christmas Child, Compassion International Fill the Stadium and more. In addition, Nick recently founded 7 Pillar Health and Performance to educate and empower the next generation of athletes.
Over the past few seasons, Nick and Amanda’s passionate partnership with Big League Impact demonstrates their commitment to finding a solution to providing basic human needs like food, clean water, medical care, shelter and education in an effort to save lives, restore dignity and instill hope. Nick and Amanda’s financial support and fundraising for life-changing projects through Phoenix Rescue Mission, Food for the Hungry and Striking out Poverty is only the beginning of their efforts to make a difference across the communities they strive to change.
In addition to their investment in Arizona, Nick and Amanda have supported Food for the Hungry, which has impacted several areas of need and will leave a lasting legacy. Recently, they matched $75,000 in funds raised through the organization to build a Community Center in El Mogote, Dominican Republic, which is considered to be one of the most poverty-stricken communities. The Community Center provided a new beginning and created a reliable place for clean water for more than 1,200 people. Nick is the true definition of a servant leader, as he traveled to El Mogote to see the project come to life and directly serve the families fighting to survive. Additionally, during his trip, Nick worked with Food for the Hungry to identify and train local leaders to manage the Community Center and water systems to ensure its sustainability for years to come. Nick gave back to the children of the community by providing baseball equipment and teaching them to play on dirt fields.
Nick and Amanda have recognized the growing hunger and water crisis as millions of impoverished children die within their first year of life due to a lack of resources. When Nick and Amanda became educated on this issue, they took immediate action, partnering with The Fight for First to fully fund and build two Compassion Survival centers for mothers and babies. Each center will save the lives of 25,000 mothers and 25,000 babies in just two years, leading the total number to 100,000 lives saved in a short period.
The Ahmeds continually support the Arizona Diamondbacks Foundation, and their compassion is contagious. Nick understands how one little act of kindness can make a difference, and is a true leader and a role model for his teammates, peers and fellow community members.