Early last week, the investment management firm Highfields Capital donated two pairs of Red Sox tickets to the Mentor Match program. Nobody at their office could use the tickets, so they generously decided to pass along the tickets to a few of our youth.
Our mentees and mentors do a wide range of activities together. They go to the movies, go shopping together, hang out at coffee shops, go to museums, play board games – the list goes on and on. But every year, without fail, there’s one event that’s by far the most popular among our matches: attending sports games, especially Red Sox games! With the high price and demand of Sox tickets, though, our matches are rarely able to attend except when we receive ticket donations like this one.
Last Monday, Highfields Capital made it possible for two of our mentees to attend a Red Sox game, deepening their match relationship and forming a life-long memory in the process. Below, you’ll find one of the stories from that night.
The text below was written by the mentee’s sister, who attended the game with him. It was truly a game to remember!
Jeffery was a premature baby that suffered physical abuse by his birth mother, resulting in a traumatic brain injury at the age of three months. He was adopted as a toddler by my mother; she passed away in June 2011, so Jeffrey has no living parents.
Jeffrey wanted to go to a Red Sox game since he learned he was moving to Boston in September 2011. Jeffrey used to play on the Red Sox Special Olympics league before he moved to the Boston area, and he feels an affinity to the team.
Jeffrey was having a challenging day at school on Monday. I showed up at school and the entire staff and Jeffrey were elated for this opportunity, and felt it could not be a better night. Jeffrey and I walked to the game, had dinner out on Lansdowne, got ice cream, and then Jeffrey enjoyed ordering an elaborate amount of soda and snacks from the seat side server. I’m not sure how he could eat all that and not be sick, it must be the nostalgia of it all!
Jeffrey spoke with the bat boy, Chris, prior to the game beginning, caught a ball Chris tossed to him, and cheered with the crowd wildly all night! Jeffrey was excited to get back to school to show everyone the ball, and will be showing his mementos from the evening for many years to come. Thank you for a fabulous night!
Thank you to Highfields Capital — and to all our ticket donors — for making memories like this possible.