Schwartz: Yankees Get Set For Annual HOPE Week Initiative
By Peter Schwartz
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In his office at Yankee Stadium, Jason Zillo has a framed letter from late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner that means the world to him.
Zillo, the Yankees' executive director of communications and media relations, had an idea seven years ago to create a week-long community relations initiative that would shine a light on acts of goodwill.
That's how HOPE Week was born, and "The Boss" couldn't have been happier.
"I grew up working for Mr. Steinbrenner and I always knew how devoted and how committed he was to helping Yankees fans and helping the community at large," said Zillo.
Next week, from August 17-21, the Yankees will hold their seventh annual HOPE Week, a unique week-long community program that will raise awareness of five remarkable stories that are intended to inspire individuals to make a difference in their own communities.
Since its inception back in 2009, HOPE Week has blossomed into one of the signature events of the Yankees' season, as the team has recognized more than 30 different 501 (c) 3 organizations.
"It's been wonderful to see this initiative flourish like it has," said Zillo. "The idea from this was really to kind of shine a light on some inspiring people and hope that, in turn, that it inspires others to do what they can in their communities and their neighborhoods"
HOPE stands for Helping Others Persevere & Excel, and what the Yankees do is reach out to an individual, family or organization that is worthy of recognition. What's special about this initiative is that there is no advance announcement of who is being honored.
It's all a surprise.
"We're like the prize patrol," said Zillo. "No one really knows who it's going to be until it actually happens on that day."
Last year, the Yankees held HOPE Week in June. Festivities kicked off with a reunion at the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum of representatives from the 25 prior HOPE Week honorees. The Yankees also honored Musicians on Call, a non-profit organization that provides volunteer musicians for hospital visits.
Among the other honorees was Friends of Jaclyn, a foundation that was created to improve the quality of life of pediatric brain tumor patients by pairing them with collegiate and high school sports teams.
The organization was created after the Northwestern University women's lacrosse team "adopted" Jaclyn Murphy as an honorary member of the team. They did so after they learned that she was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in March 2004 at the age of nine.
While the Yankees don't want to ruin the surprise for this year's honorees, the Bombers are dialing up long distance for one of the groups.
"We're covering large demographics here," said Zillo. "It's certainly centered here in the New York area, but I can tell you that we're going to fly a group of people in on Monday and surprise them."
And to keep with tradition, the Yankees will kick off HOPE Week Monday on NBC's "Today Show."
This year, for the first time ever, they will be selling HOPE Week T-shirts. All proceeds will go back to the Yankees Foundation, which subsidizes all of the HOPE Week honorees.
After a soft launch during the last homestand, the T-shirts will be sold in full force at the HOPE Week games next week at Yankee Stadium.
"The one thing that we really want to do every year is to enhance it in some ways and not just go through the motions," said Zillo. "Dating back to a few years ago -- when we had our minor league affiliates doing their own versions of HOPE Week -- and adding the T-shirts, we push ourselves to improve it every year and not just rest on our laurels."
The shirts will be available for $25 each at the team store locations behind home plate or adjacent to Gate 6.
Also, in keeping with tradition, the Yankees' U.S. based minor league affiliates will hold their own HOPE Weeks for the fourth time, spreading the initiative to reach five additional cities and touch more than two dozen additional individuals and groups.
When this year's HOPE Week is over, Zillo will certainly take another look at that letter from George Steinbrenner, and will smile knowing that "The Boss" is looking down with approval and pride.
"This very much has his fingerprints on it," said Zillo.
For more information on the Yankees' annual week-long initiative, visit www.hopeweek.com.
Don't forget to follow me on Twitter @pschwartzcbsfan. You can also follow the Yankees @yankees and keep up to date on the week's events by using the hashtag #HOPEWeek.
