Global Volunteer Month Spotlight

April is Global Volunteer Month, a time to celebrate volunteers as well as inspire volunteerism around the globe. This month, we are recognizing our colleagues who are taking action to make a positive impact in the communities where we work, live and serve our customers.

We spoke with John Byrne, President of Financial Distributors, about how his local community raised funds to build an ADA-compliant baseball field to benefit local children with cognitive and physical challenges.

Easterseals was an organization that John already knew, as they had helped his family advocate for his son’s education. The nonprofit promoted the North Oakland community’s efforts and helped the group with the unique considerations that come with planning a ballpark for special needs children.

How did you become involved with Easterseals?

Fifteen years ago, my wife, Nina, and I had our third child. Johnny is a sunny, happy boy who loves to be in the spotlight (no idea who he gets that from). Johnny also was born with Down syndrome.

When Johnny turned eight, he started playing basketball through Buddy Sports, a program designed for kids with cognitive or physical challenges. There he became friends with a girl named Allison who has cerebral palsy. Allison uses a walker, and hers is all done up in Detroit baseball logos. When baseball season rolled around, we asked her parents if she’d join Johnny on the field. They said, “Allison loves to play in the batting cages, but it’s a nightmare to push a wheelchair through dirt.” That’s when we first learned about the Miracle League, which builds ADA compliant fields for kids with cognitive and physical challenges so that everyone can play. But it takes $750,000 to $1 million to build this type of field.

Together with Allison’s parents, we decided to raise the funds, and once we began the momentum was unbelievable. The township agreed to give us space for the field in a community park. We planned a charity golf tournament and started making phone calls, and more than 200 people signed up. Easterseals, an organization that was invaluable in helping us navigate and advocate for Johnny’s education, promoted our efforts and provided access to all types of things we hadn’t thought about – like therapists who knew why the surface had to be a specific way. I called asphalt and construction companies, told them our story and asked if they’d do the work for free. In four years, we had the place built.

With the money raised, we also built a concession stand that serves our field and five other “normal” baseball fields and we get to keep every nickel. These funds help support the critical work Easterseals leads. So we are all helping Easterseals purchase scooters and wheelchairs, and even build a new autism center, partially because of the success of these efforts.

Johnny was always the biggest cheerleader for his sisters, but he never got his own day in the sun until we built this field. Now he’s learned how to be part of a team and good sportsmanship. And every Saturday is like game seven of the World Series.

What’s the best way to make your contributions count?

Three things stand out for me:

1. Your time is invaluable. Nonprofits have limited resources, and the help we can give them is often worth more than funding. Take Easterseals, my financial knowledge has been a great way for me to support this organization.
   
   
2. Ask questions. When you are considering a donation, it’s really important to ask what the money will go toward. Always ask, “What are you fundraising for?” When you know, you can tell others, and your donation can have a ripple effect.
   
   
3. Go broad. When fundraising, I could have approached a few big donors. Instead, we reached out to everyone we could and told the Miracle League story, and now the entire community is invested in this program, and they all continue to show up.

At Corebridge, we believe action is everything. What does that mean to you, especially when it comes to helping others?

I lost my mom two years ago, and I’ll never forget what she said to me at one of Johnny’s baseball games: “I’ve never been more proud of you for leaving the world better than when you entered it.” Corebridge lets us do that with time off and matching grants so we can continue to support the things that matter – we are lucky. You’ve got to do something to get the ball rolling – that requires action.