SOURCE OF WEALTH: Former baseball pitcher for the Chicago Cubs, Cleveland Indians and New York Yankees
FUNDING AREAS: Youth Development, Middle School Education, Youth Mentorship
OVERVIEW: Through the Wood Family Foundation and its signature Pitch In program, the Woods support middle school students from Chicago Public Schools within four prioritized neighborhoods: Austin, Englewood, Humboldt Park, and North Lawndale.
BACKGROUND: Raised in Texas, Kerry Wood rose to fame as a pitcher for the Major League Baseball (MLB) organization. He co-holds the record for most strikeouts in a single game (20). He retired from baseball in May 2012 and resides in Chicago with his wife, Sarah, who is from Waukegan, Illinois.
ISSUES: Kerry and Sarah Wood primarily conduct their philanthropy through their foundation, the Wood Family Foundation (WFF). It was established in June 2011 as a a 501(c)(3) to “improve the lives of children in Chicago.” The foundation believes that “[d]espite the curveballs that may come their way, everyone should be given a chance in life regardless of resources or geography. The Wood Family Foundation facilitates relationships that provide support and opportunities to empower youth and their families to succeed in life.” The foundation has evolved over time and now primarily invests in children’s well-being through its Pitch In program, among other related education endeavors.
The Pitch In program, which provides after-school mentorship for Chicago students, is the foundation’s most prominent program. The program was initially developed in 2014 at Lawndale Community Academy (LCA) in the North Lawndale neighborhood. It served 4th graders then, but has expanded to include students through the 8th grade. The foundation has since launched a second Pitch In site at Richard Yates Elementary School in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood, a third site at Bernhard Moos Elementary, and a fourth site at Charles Sumner Math and Science Community Academy. The foundation works closely with school administration to build student success at both schools.
Overall, the Pitch In seeks to create “high-quality mentoring relationships” with students at its beneficiary sites in order to ensure that vulnerable and low-income students successfully transition from middle to high school through a “social-emotional curriculum, a group mentoring model, exposure to unique enrichment experiences, monthly school-based Family Dinners, and 8th grade peer mentorship.” Learn more about the foundation’s Pitch In Mentors.
Looking forwards, the Woods’ family foundation seeks to expand services to ten Chicago school communities by 2022. They will continue to serve the North Lawndale and Humboldt Park neighborhoods, and “aspire to grow to Austin and Englewood in the years ahead.”
In a Huffington Post interview, Kerry has said that he supports “[a]nything to do with kids, anything we can do to help. Any organization in the community that needs help and wants to help out kids, we want to be involved in.”
While the Wood Family Foundation is not itself a grant-making entity, but a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, it seeks collaborative and creative partnerships with aligned peer organizations to bolster the quality of services it provides to the middle school students it serves.
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