When the kids come in drive-thru droves, Chris Singleton will greet them happily. The former Minor League outfielder will spread baseball benevolence by helping to hand out bat-and-ball sets to the underserved. As is often the case in his current role as the Charleston RiverDogs’ director of community outreach, he will do his part to grow the game and to promote unity.

And he will do so mere steps from where his mother was murdered.

Nearly six years after the horrific mass shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church -- a hate crime that took the lives of nine Black church members, including Sharonda Coleman-Singleton -- Major League Baseball and the RiverDogs are staging a Play Ball event in the church parking lot Saturday morning. So for the 24-year-old Singleton, the gathering brings the source of his ambition to the site of his anguish.

“Going back to my church,” Singleton said, “is tough but rewarding.”

Less than 24 hours after the June 17, 2015, massacre at Mother Emanuel, Singleton publicly said that his family had forgiven the shooter, Dylann Roof, and that “love is stronger than hate.” It was a jarring but powerful declaration from a teenager whose mother had just been killed because of the color of her skin. And Singleton, who now travels the country as an inspirational speaker and has written two children’s books, has tried to abide by that message every day since.

That includes returning to Mother Emanuel, though it understandably took time for Singleton to do so without feeling tremendous anxiety. His first visit to the building after the murders was for another heartbreaking reason -- the funeral for his father, Christopher, in early 2017.

But one day in 2019, Singleton was asked by Rev. Eric Manning, the pastor at Mother Emmanuel, to speak at a youth event.

“Just talking to them about my mom and getting through adversity kind of lifted that burden off of me,” Singleton said. “I had only associated that building with tragedy. But after that event, I could think about the church as something different -- giving back to our youth and empowering them and lifting them.”

That’s the essence of Saturday’s event. It will introduce or reinforce baseball as a potentially powerful force in a child’s life. And given the way the game has helped Singleton move forward after an unspeakable loss, he can attest to its potency.

Singleton had just finished his freshman season at Charleston Southern when his mother was killed. When he spoke the next day before a gaggle of reporters, his teammates stood behind him in support.

But the sport’s most lasting impact on Singleton is the help he received away from the field during his time in the Cubs’ farm system in 2017 and ’18. The Cubs made personal therapists available to players at all levels, free of charge, and Singleton began to open up about what he had been through.

It was a breakthrough in his life.

“I got comfortable,” Singleton said, “sharing my pain.”

When Singleton’s professional baseball career ended with the 2018 season, he turned his pain into purpose. He accepted the community outreach position with the RiverDogs and began visiting various schools and churches -- not only in Charleston, but around the country -- to share his story and his message.

“After losing my mom,” Singleton said, “I’ve basically dedicated my life to promoting unity in all phases of my life, whether it’s speaking to a company or doing a baseball clinic or camp for kids from all different neighborhoods in my hometown.”

Singleton is proud to have a role in growing his sport and in promoting peace. In many ways, he is following in the footsteps of Sharonda, a woman of deep faith who, like her son, was an athlete, having run track at South Carolina State. Singleton’s younger sister, Camryn, and younger brother, Caleb, a baseball player at Lander University, weren’t old enough to know their mom quite as well as Chris did. So he has played the role of both big brother and father figure to them -- in addition to raising a son of his own, C.J., with his wife, Mariana.

All of the above has taught Singleton some valuable lessons that can apply to society at large.

“You have to start with unity, start with love, start with understanding and empathy,” Singleton said. “If our country is going to come together, it has to start with love.”

Saturday’s event, therefore, is about more than bats and balls and athletic activity. It’s about remaining engaged with the community, spreading joy and spreading hope. And if Singleton can do that at the site where his mother was so violently and viciously taken from him, any of us can do it anywhere.