Major League Baseball today announced a league-wide initiative by all 30 MLB Clubs and more than four dozen Major League players to support childhood hunger prevention and battle food insecurity. The initiative, “Home Plate Project,” is in partnership with Garth Brooks’ Teammates For Kids Foundation (TFK) and Big League Impact, which was founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright and is supported by Minnesota Twins pitcher Kyle Gibson.

“Home Plate Project” includes an overall $900,000 commitment, including $300,000 from MLB players, to help individual Club charities support local groups dedicated to fighting childhood hunger. Led by their player ambassadors in August, Clubs will fund efforts with local food organizations, or local affiliates of national organizations, to distribute food and non-perishables to children in need throughout the United States and in Canada. The initiative is expected to reach a minimum of 25,000 children providing more than 3.6 million meals. Currently in the United States, 1 in 6 children may not know where they will get their next meal.

Garth Brooks said: “Teammates for Kids started with 67 baseball players 20 years ago, and as we look forward, we are excited to launch this project with ballplayers from every MLB team to help fight childhood hunger. The Home Plate Project is special for Teammates for Kids because it incorporates our founding principles of teaming up with athletes who have a passion for helping kids, such as Adam Wainwright and Kyle Gibson who help kids around the world through Big League Impact. The beauty of it all, 100% of the money that is getting donated to this effort will feed children in local communities.”

The list of player ambassadors for each MLB Club is as follows:

• ARI – Nick Ahmed & Luke Weaver
• ATL – Brian McCann & Mark Melancon
• BAL – Trey Mancini & Chris Davis
• BOS – Nate Eovaldi & Mitch Moreland
• CHC – Steve Cishek & Daniel Descalso
• CWS – Jon Jay & James McCann
• CIN – Tucker Barnhart & Curt Casali
• CLE – Jason Kipnis
• COL – Daniel Murphy & Brian Shaw
• DET – Tyson Ross
• HOU – Will Harris & Ryan Pressly
• KC – Ian Kennedy
• LAA – Andrew Heaney & *Tyler Skaggs*
• LAD – Clayton Kershaw & David Freese
• MIA – Martin Prado
• MIL – Chase Anderson
• MIN – Kyle Gibson & Martín Pérez
• NYM – Steven Matz & Jacob deGrom
• NYY – Aaron Hicks
• OAK – Stephen Piscotty & Liam Hendriks
• PHI – JT Realmuto & Aaron Nola
• PIT – Josh Bell & Trevor Williams
• SD – Austin Hedges & Ian Kinsler
• SEA – Marco Gonzales & Sam Tuivailala
• SF – Tony Watson
• STL – Andrew Miller & Adam Wainwright
• TB – Tommy Pham & Charlie Morton
• TEX – Hunter Pence & Lance Lynn
• TOR – Randal Grichuk & Clayton Richard
• WAS – Brian Dozier & Yan Gomes

*In memoriam to honor Tyler’s legacy alongside his best friend Andrew Heaney*

Wainwright said: “The collaboration between our foundation, Big League Impact, and Garth's foundation, Teammates for Kids, all came together during Spring Training this year. Garth loves helping kids, and I care deeply about providing the basic essential needs that are so important to everyday living, such as food, water and shelter, which many of us often take for granted. It has been a tremendous blessing for me to see so many players, who compete against each other every day, unite together to help children across the country, in every Major League city, who are in need.”

Gibson said: “It’s an exciting moment for the baseball community and fans as we launch this partnership to address food insecurity for kids all across the country. It’s impossible to predict success in the first year of any partnership, but the involvement of dozens of Major League players, representing all 30 teams, in the middle of summer when there’s so much happening on the field, shows that this is an issue that is important to our entire sport. It’s a really encouraging feeling to know that this is the start of something that will create meaningful impact for many years to come.”

“Major League Baseball is proud to support our Clubs and Players in addressing this serious issue affecting millions of children,” said Melanie LeGrande, Vice President of Social Responsibility, Major League Baseball. “The Home Plate Project is a collaborative effort that will serve as a powerful demonstration of the baseball community standing together in support of children who are in need.”

Celebrating its 20th anniversary in 2019, Teammates For Kids (www.teammatesforkids.com) began with the support of 67 Major League Baseball players who made a pledge to help kids. Since then, more than 4,700 professional athletes from baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, rodeo and racing have joined the TFK team. Since its inception in 1999, the Teammates For Kids Foundation and its network of thousands of professional athletes has distributed funds to charities focusing on children’s health, education, and inner-city outreach, through building Child Life Zones, supporting youth athletic programs, and funding life-saving surgeries.

Big League Impact, Inc. (www.BigLeagueImpact.org) is a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit organization with a mission to help meet basic human needs like food, clean water, medical care and shelter, in an effort to restore dignity and hope to people in the US communities and around the globe. Started by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright in 2013 as a fantasy football fundraiser, Big League Impact has grown from coast-to-coast, now working with 80 MLB players, and having raised more than $4.5 million for athletes' causes.