Red Sox provide community service to Harry Chapin Food Bank
FORT MYERS, Fla. (Jan. 31, 2025) – In partnership with Lee County Solid Waste, more than 20 minor league players, coaches and staff members of the Boston Red Sox performed community service for Southwest Florida’s local food bank on January 29.
As part of its continuing community outreach efforts, the players and staff packed boxes of nonperishable food items at the Harry Chapin Food Bank for local families and food pantries in need.
The team’s efforts resulted in the completion of nine full pallets of food which is enough to provide meals for 900 local families. Each box was carefully filled with a variety of nonperishable items, ensuring that the recipients have access to balanced meals.
“Donating our time to local nonprofits like the Harry Chapin Food Bank gives us a chance to get out in the community and teach these young men early on how to give back to a place that has given us so much,” said Shawn H. P. Smith, general manager, Florida Operations and jetBlue Park at Fenway South.
Harry Chapin Food Bank, Southwest Florida’s largest hunger-relief organization and the region’s only Feeding America partner food bank, has a mission to lead the community in the fight to end hunger. Leveraging its Feeding Network of 175 agency partners, the nonprofit serves 250,000 neighbors each month across Charlotte, Collier, Glades, Hendry and Lee counties. Harry Chapin Food Bank receives food donations from growers, producers, distributors, retailers, the USDA, Feeding America and local food drives organized by individuals, organizations, communities and businesses. Volunteers and partners then provide a critical role in getting food into the hands of neighbors experiencing hunger.
“It’s estimated that one in eight individuals in Southwest Florida – and one in six children – are food insecure,” said Richard LeBer, president and CEO of Harry Chapin Food Bank. “To address this problem, we rely on the generosity and volunteerism of the Red Sox and groups who selflessly dedicate their time and resources to supporting our mission to end hunger.”
The Lee County Solid Waste Department provides a variety of convenient waste and recycling services to more than 320,000 households in unincorporated Lee County and six municipalities. The Department also owns and operates technologically advanced waste-to-energy and material recycling facilities, supported by a landfill, two transfer stations, a household chemical waste facility and a Reuse Center. In all, the disposal system handles more than 1.2 million tons of waste each year.
The Red Sox Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and the official team charity of the Boston Red Sox. The foundation’s primary focus locally is in serving the health, education, recreation and social service needs of children and families across Southwest Florida. The Red Sox Foundation is one of the most successful in all of Major League Baseball.
