OAKLAND -- The A's gave out their team awards this week during the final home series of the season.
Reliever Liam Hendriks received the Dave Stewart Community Service Award before Wednesday's game, given annually by the team to a player in recognition of their charitable efforts.
"It's big," Hendriks said. "It means that I'm not just going through the motions and doing just on-the-field stuff. It means I'm having an impact off the field, and that means a lot to me because it's one of those things where you get to help other people out.
"We've got a platform that we can use, and I'm hopefully using it in the right way and hopefully getting some good publicity for some of the charities that I work with."
The right-hander has been at the forefront of the Striking Out Poverty and Adam Wainwright's Big League Impact campaigns, focusing his efforts on ending poverty in the Dominican Republic. He's also been active with a variety of animal charities, including but not limited to Players for Pits, Paw Town Rescue, Remember Me Thursday and Tony La Russa's Animal Rescue Foundation.

The A's have also commended Hendriks for his support with a number of A's community initiatives and programs, which include serving meals at St. Vincent de Paul community center in Oakland, building a playhouse with Habitat for Humanity, participating in Youth Sports Nation's Play Ball Tour event and others.
Hendriks is also the A's nominee for the 2017 Roberto Clemente Award, given to the player who best represents the game of baseball through extraordinary character, community involvement, philanthropy and positive contributions, both on and off the field.
In addition to Hendriks, infielder Jed Lowrie won the Catfish Hunter Award on Monday night, an award voted on by players, coaches and staff members for the team's most inspirational player.
"It means a lot," Lowrie said. "Hopefully, that means I've earned the respect of the guys in here with the way I approach the game and the way that I performed. Anytime you can get an award that's associated with someone as foundational as Catfish Hunter is to this organization, it's pretty cool."

The award is presented annually to the player whose performance and conduct best exemplify the spirit of the late Hall of Fame pitcher. Catcher Stephen Vogt was the recipient of the award each of the past three years. Vogt also was the Dave Stewart Community Service Award winner in the previous two seasons.