(L to R) Major League Baseball Umpires Ramon De Jesus, Quinn Wolcott, Paul Clemons and Adrian Johnson take time out to deliver joy (and 100 Build-A-Bear furry friends) to young patients at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center, the site of UMPS CARE Charities’ very first hospital visit 20 years ago. (Photo Credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine)
Children in hospitals have received a Build-A-Bear from MLB Umpires
This young patient got a dose of good medicine today – a visit from the MLB Umpire crew working the Orioles-Cubs series and the comfort of a new Build-A-Bear furry friend! (Photo Credit: Johns Hopkins Medicine)
Back in 2006, UMPS CARE Charities launched its first delivery of Build-A-Bear Workshop® furry friends to children undergoing hospital treatment. The very first hospital visit that Major League Baseball Umpires made for the charity was at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore. During that visit, a small group of umpires stopped by and delivered about 25 stuffed toys.
Twenty years later, the Major League Baseball Umpire crew of Adrian Johnson, Quinn Wolcott, Ramon De Jesus and Paul Clemons took time out to return where it all began. Along with the Oriole Bird and volunteers fromthe Baltimore office of Eisai, a Japanese pharmacetical company, the umpires spent the morning delivering stuffed animals to young patients. The kids got to select their furry friend from a variety of choices, an outfit and goodie bag. The umpires had a blast tossing baseball-styled stressballs with the patients and even dancing with them.
“We are so excited to return to where this program started nearly 20 years ago,” said Jennifer Skolochenko-Platt, Executive Director at UMPS CARE Charities. “Johns Hopkins Children’s Center has been an annual stop for UMPS CARE Charities, and even during the pandemic, we continued to deliver joy and comfort to kids right here in Baltimore.”
This visit at Johns Hopkins Children’s Center marks the 249th delivery of Build-A-Bear® furry friends that UMPS CARE Charities since the program was created in 2006. Including the visit today, UMPS CARE will have delivered more than 25.390 Build-A-Bear® stuffed toys to children in hospitals across the country and in Canada.
UMPS CARE Charities wants to thank our friends from Eisai for their volunteer and financial support to make this visit possible. Eisai is a pharmacetical companu guided by its “human health care” philosophy and has partnered with UMPS CARE for nearly a decade. Volunteers from Eisai in Baltimore took time out to join us for this visit!
Special thanks to the Arby’s Foundation, whose generous grants have made visits like this one possible. We loved having the extra help from volunteers from the Flynn Group, which has grown into the largest franchise operation in the world, with more than 2,900 Applebee’s, Taco Bell, Panera, Arby’s, Pizza Hut, Wendy’s, and Planet Fitness locations across 44 states and now, three countries. The Flynn Group’s support center is based outside of Cleveland. (Photo credit Ken Blaze)