NEW YORK -- Back in January, Major League Baseball announced a goal in conjunction with America250 of accumulating 250,000 volunteer hours in 2026 across its clubs, league office and partners. A third of the way through the season, the league is well-positioned to hit that target.
On Thursday, MLB took another big step toward that goal by hosting a service event with one of its major partners, the American Red Cross. Sixty MLB employees gathered to assemble 600 care kits for veterans in VA hospitals across all five boroughs of New York City. These kits included essential toiletries such as shampoo, body wash, soap and toothpaste, all packaged neatly in an “American Red Cross” drawstring bag.
Volunteers also wrote notecards of appreciation that will be delivered alongside the assembled kits, which will be distributed over the next couple of months.
This event fell right in the middle of Military Appreciation Month after the league celebrated Armed Forces Day last weekend (marked with commemorative on-field hats) and just ahead of Memorial Day. It’s a natural time in the baseball calendar to give back to service members.
“Our clubs in particular, but the Commissioner's Office as well, are very, very active in the military space, supporting the armed services,” said Commissioner Rob Manfred, who was on hand to assemble kits of his own. “So it's just a great partnership, given the overlap of activities and charitable interests.”
MLB and the American Red Cross have been partners for five years, and the relationship takes many forms. The league is part of the Red Cross Disaster Responder program, which includes an annual financial commitment of at least $250,000 for the organization’s disaster relief work. MLB has donated to the Red Cross after several recent natural disasters, including the 2025 California wildfires and Hurricanes Helene and Milton in 2024.
Individual MLB clubs have also built strong partnerships with the Red Cross and helped out in recent times of need. The Brewers’ front office assembled 1,000 care kits for the American Red Cross of Wisconsin in March, and the Red Sox host an annual blood drive commemorating 9/11 with the American Red Cross. The Reds also work with the Red Cross to provide relief for those facing immediate need in Ukraine and surrounding countries, while the Tigers donated to the Dominican Red Cross after the April 2025 nightclub tragedy in Santo Domingo.
Through all of these involvements, MLB and its clubs can work seamlessly with an organization equipped to respond in times of crisis and give back to as many communities as possible.
“We began our involvement with the Red Cross in order to utilize our disaster relief dollars more efficiently and effectively,” Manfred said. “We realized they had the infrastructure in place to do it better than we could do it on our own, but as we became more involved with them, we realized the breadth of their activities went way beyond disaster relief.”
One of the people who facilitates this relationship is American Red Cross partnerships director Erika Guerrero. She was there on Thursday to guide volunteers through the kit assembly and discuss the organization’s mission. One point she emphasized was that the Red Cross is largely volunteer-run and does most of its work responding to small disasters – house fires, floods and the like – that never make the news.
“We're in every community across the country, just like MLB is around in every community across the country,” she said.
This event in particular struck a chord with Guerrero. She has worked at the Red Cross for 10 years and comes from a long military lineage, and her brother-in-law is in the midst of Black Hawk helicopter training in Alabama. Having seen firsthand how much of the Red Cross’s work ties into the military, she jumped at the chance to work with MLB at this specific time of year.
“Serving military families during Military Appreciation Month, kind of a no-brainer, but [it] touches my heart in a very specific and direct way,” Guerrero said. “It's been a very exciting time to collaborate and come to the headquarters and work with employees.”
Later this summer, this partnership will be recognized on a national stage. MLB will be working with the American Red Cross at the All-Star Game for the first time, and fans in Philadelphia will have the opportunity to pack even more care kits for service members and contribute toward the volunteer goal.
“We are feeling great about the momentum,” said April Brown, MLB’s SVP of social responsibility. “We're confident we're going to hit the 250,000 hours and blow it out of the water.”