Twins spread joy with 18th annual Holiday Week of Giving
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December might represent a lull on the baseball calendar for most, but this period leading into the holiday season is exactly when the Twins’ community engagement efforts kick into their highest gear.
As part of the organization’s 18th annual Holiday Week of Giving tradition this past week, volunteers from the Twins’ front office united with current players (Louis Varland and Ryan Jeffers), past fan favorites (Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau) and even a Hall of Famer (Bert Blyleven) to bring joy, aid and support to fans and community partners around the Twin Cities.
“I think this week in particular highlights that service to the community is really part of the DNA of the Minnesota Twins culture,” said Kristin Rortvedt, the Twins’ senior director of community engagement. “We've got our front office staff who volunteer, but we have current players, we have alumni players, we have folks who have been around this organization for 40-plus years who come out to be a part of it because everyone here understands the importance of giving back.”
With a focus on empowering local youth and providing resources and belonging alongside their partners in the local community, the Twins crafted a week of volunteer service -- the events included packing meal kits with Every Meal, a book fair with Reading Partners, support for homeless veterans with WCCO-TV and MAC-V, gifts and activities at Gillette Children’s hospital, donations of trees and decorations with The Giving Trees and toy and blanket donations with Mary’s Place.
The excitement that the Twins can bring to their fans with this firsthand engagement is always significant to them, from the elementary school teacher in pajama pants (for Whittier Elementary’s pajama day) excitedly running up to them to show off her Twins watch, to U.S. veterans expressing their thrill about the Twins’ season to Jeffers, to the cries of delight when Blyleven arrives with a pizza delivery.
But an important essence of the Twins’ community efforts is that there’s lots of mutual respect going in both directions -- with Jeffers in awe of both the determination and courage at Gillette and of the sacrifices made by the veterans with whom he’d interacted. That admiration extends to the work done by the teachers, doctors and other professionals that have significant impact on local youth.
“Everybody in the community gives us so much that lets us do our jobs that doing a little part to give back to people like veterans that have done more for this country and have done more meaningful things than I'll ever do in my life is definitely worth it,” Jeffers said.
Within this framework, the Twins take pride in not only the special moments that they can foster with their community partners, but also in the tangible impact: the meals, trees, toys and decorations delivered, or, in the case of this year’s MAC-V event, the jobs located for those veterans.
“So, this week really spans from just bringing moments of joy to creating long-lasting, real impact for people,” Rortvedt said. “That's what's inspiring to me about this week. It's fun, it's inspiring, but it can also be life-changing for people.”
“I think in any community, sports and athletics are so ingrained in the community,” Jeffers said. “The fans and everybody give so much to us. We can't do our jobs without the community. So I think being able to really understand that as an organization and give back and truly try and have an impact -- not just one-off needs in the community -- but to truly try and find different areas to help out where you can is awesome.”