Hopedale resident runs first Boston Marathon for DOCF

Hopedale resident Craig Wilke will be running his first Boston Marathon on April 16 as part of the David Ortiz Children’s Fund (DOCF) #PinchRun4Papi charity team. The DOCF is a nonprofit created by its namesake former Boston Red Sox slugger which provides lifesaving heart surgeries and other pediatric care for children in New England and the Dominican Republic.

Wilke joins 11 other dedicated “pinch runners” as part of this year’s #PinchRun4Papi marathon team who will raise funds for the David Ortiz Children’s Fund. In partnership with MassGeneral Hospital for Children and CEDIMAT Hospital in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, the Fund has saved over 670 lives to-date. Through this year’s Marathon efforts, the newly launched campaign “#PinchRun4Papi” aims to raise $170,000 to provide lifesaving heart surgeries for an additional 34 children by April 16th.

“The numbers of children that need our help continues to grow so I need my pinch runners now more than I ever did during my baseball career,” said former Red Sox slugger David Ortiz. “I’m grateful to have a team of runners for this year’s marathon who share my dream, but I also want everyone to know that you don’t need to be a runner to be part of a winning team.”

“I met the Ortiz family through our sons playing baseball together and I remember [David’s wife] Tiffany telling some of the parents about the DOCF and how exciting it is to get involved with the organization around the Marathon,” said Wilke. “When I decided I wanted to run the Boston Marathon this year, I knew that I wanted to support the DOCF because not only did it impress me that all the employees are volunteers, but knowing that every single dollar raised for this cause goes right toward a child in need is extremely inspiring.”

Wilke, a Wisconsin native who came to Boston to play baseball at Harvard, took up running in 2016 in hopes to get back in shape and stay healthy for his family and well-being. “I started with trying one of those couch to 5K programs, but ended up skipping the 5K and running my first half-marathon in August of 2017,” said Wilke. “Running has allowed me to lose over fifty pounds and get back to feeling healthy and I couldn’t be more excited to run my first marathon for this organization.”

As part of Wilke’s fundraising efforts, he will be auctioning off several autographed baseballs signed by current MLB players, in which former Harvard teammates who now work in the MLB provided to Wilke in hopes it will help him raise significant funds for the DOCF. Notable player’s baseballs up for auction include: Rockies players Carlos Gonzalez, Trevor Story, Ian Desmond, Buddy Black, Jon Gray, and A’s players Dennis Eckersley, Mark Kotsay & Coco Crisp.

To learn more about the autographed baseballs up for auction, visit: https://www.32auctions.com/PinchRun4Papi

There are plenty of other simple ways to get involved and contribute to Team Papi’s $170,000 goal:

• Purchase a limited edition David Ortiz Yankee Candle ($30)
• Purchase exclusive merchandise, including a limited edition “Still Our City” T-shirt

For more information about the 2018 Boston Marathon team running for the David Ortiz Children’s Fund or to make a donation in honor of Craig Wilke, visit: www.davidortizchildrensfund.org.

Wilke’s individual CrowdRise page can be found at:

https://www.crowdrise.com/o/en/campaign/davidortizchildrensfundboston2018/craigwilke