PHILADELPHIA – Throughout the three floors of the Shane Victorino Nicetown Boys & Girls Club in Philadelphia, approximately 70 local volunteers spent Saturday refurbishing the building and surrounding grounds.
For one morning, it became a different hive of activity as Major League Baseball, Phillies Charities Inc. and community partners – like the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) and the Treehouse Books Bookmobile – joined volunteers to invest in a place that serves hundreds of children each year.
"This is the best part," said April Brown, MLB senior vice president of social responsibility. "Where we get to be in the community, doing the work. [They] literally rolled up [their] sleeves in the heat and inside to do some special things for the youth."
Volunteers spread throughout the club, painting the walls a rich blue and butter yellow, assembling furniture and packing backpacks with school supplies and hygiene kits. Others worked outside restoring surrounding green spaces, working on the baseball field across the street and picking up trash.
Former Major Leaguers CC Sabathia, Chris Young, Jason Kendall, Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher, Scott Kazmir, Dellin Betances and Kenny Lofton also joined the effort, helping carry newly assembled furniture.
The day also introduced the PHS Garden Mobile, a new traveling program that will bring gardening education, fresh produce and planting supplies to neighborhoods across Philadelphia.
“When somebody plants their first tomato, learns how to care for a tree, volunteers in a community garden, or simply spends time outside in green spaces, something really good starts to happen,” Matt Rader, president of PHS, said. “People feel empowered to change the world around them. They discover this superpower they have to change the world by growing something.”
For Shane Victorino, the project was another chance to return to a place that has carried his name for more than a decade.
His foundation helped rename the Nicetown Boys & Girls Club in 2011, and on Saturday he joined volunteers shoveling and raking the infield. Returning to the club and giving back to the community comes naturally to him.
Growing up in Wailuku, Hawaii, Victorino spent much of his time around his uncle's home, often helping neighbors with projects around the community. That upbringing made giving back second nature, making it difficult for him to leave the Boys & Girls Club and return to everyday life after events like Saturday's.
"That's who I am," Victorino said. “I was a little kid that grew up on a little island … [and] my boys and girls clubs are beneficiary today. I had a good old time getting back there and grabbing a shovel and a rake and making this field look nice.”
Other volunteers also reflected on how much the area has changed.
Andrew Bonvecchi, a volunteer from Brightview Landscaping, remembers back in 2021 when the place where the field stands now was a rundown lot.
“[I love] how they are transforming the community,” Bonvecchi said. “They even have businesses establishing next to it that are also keeping a high standard around here and it’s just having a forever impact on the urban ecology of the area.”
Many of the volunteers came from the Liguori Academy baseball team and helped out across all the stations.
"It's something really important as a value of our school is to give back to others," said Sammy DiGeorge, Liguori Academy's director of advancement. “[We’ve written] letters of support, gratitude and words of affirmation, so that when all the students come back, they'll be able to get all their incredible supplies, shirts, hygiene kits and then some words of encouragement to get them through the year.”
This was one of many trips for Michele DeVicaris, director of Phillies community and charity events, to the site. She was there when the club was renamed and has watched it become one of the city's busiest Boys & Girls Clubs.
"To see how it's grown, and to get people who hadn't been able to see what was here to come," DeVicaris said. "The reason we need to make these repairs is because it gets used so much. There are so many kids who come through these doors. It's the largest one in the city."
For Libby Lescalleet, the Boys & Girls Club's executive vice president of programs, partnerships and development, the event did more than refurbish the facility or paint its walls.
"You've shown our kids that their community -- all of Philadelphia -- cares about them,” Lescalleet said.