One Canaan Elementary School student is taking his love for baseball and making an impact in his local community.
Matthew Tor, an 11-year-old travel baseball player, was honored by a non-profit organization called the League of YES this month for raising and donating over $500 to their cause.
The league’s mission is to “establish and sustain baseball programs for people (of all ages) with disabilities,” according to its website.
“I love baseball and I like the idea of helping more people play,” Matthew said.
Matthew, with the help of his parents David and Michelle, raised the money by making decorative baseballs that he then sold to friends and family.
“We take a baseball and cut it up at the seems,” his dad explained. “Then we take the laces out to overlap it to make it into a heart and sew it together.”
Matthew has been creating and selling these hand-crafted, custom baseballs as ornaments since November. The first one ever created was made as a birthday present for Matthew’s mother, said David.
Matthew knew he wanted to help the League of YES once he learned about them through his baseball league. Each year, many baseball players from local travel and the school teams serve as a BUDDY for the league’s players.
“I really wanted to help out the league.” Matthew said.
So, Matthew got cracking by making more and more baseballs, selling them for $20 each through his Facebook page called Hearts for a Cause.
For his fundraising efforts, Matthew was commemorated with a banner earlier this month.
“I didn’t think they were going to recognize me at all,” said Matthew. ” I was just doing something I thought was right.”
“Matthew’s a very sweet kid,” said League of YES executive director Kristine Fitzpatrick.”He went over an above because he was so touched by volunteering… so we wanted to recognized [his efforts].”
Top: Matthew Tor being presented with a banner by the League of YES. (courtesy photo)
