Peekskill Teens Catch Mets Game With Home Run Against Drugs

PEEKSKILL, NY — Some 80 kids from communities across Westchester including Peekskill watched
New York Mets legend David Wright play his final game at Citifield Sept. 29. Not bad for their first baseball game!

They got there with the help of Home Run Against Drugs, an Ossining-based initiative that uses reading to promote healthy life style choices among kids in local schools.

“The program uses baseball as a metaphor for healthy living, and this was a way to bring the program to life,” says Kemi Pogue, Program Coordinator for Home Run Against Drugs, who conceived and coordinated “A Day at the Baseball Park.” “A lot of kids have never experienced going to a baseball game due to their economic status. Making it happen was a team effort.”

One of those team members was My Brother’s Keeper, a mentoring initiative launched by President Barack Obama. MBK chapters in Greenburgh, White Plains, Mt. Vernon, New Rochelle, and Peekskill partnered with local community centers and youth bureaus to identity eligible kids and line up bus transportation.

Through a contact with Hartsdale Fire Chief Ed Rush, Pogue approached Donovan Mitchell Sr., Director Mets of Player Relations and Community Engagement and a White Plains resident, for tickets. Ossining Communities That Care, a coalition dedicated to battling teen substance abuse, donated food and T-shirts for the kids from Ossining. Private donors helped the cause as well.

“Visiting the snack bar was a big hit,” says Pogue. “The kids enjoyed seeing the field and the stadium, which they’d only seen on television. They said, Wow, we’re at a Mets game! I can’t believe it!”

And what did Pogue get out of it? “Happiness. We hit a home run!”

For more information on the program, go to homerunagainstdrugs.org, or email info@homerunagainstdrugs.org.

Photo credit: Steve Dillard