The Heart and Soul of The Cubs, Anthony Rizzo, and His Foundation, Continue To Do The Lord’s Work
If you’re even a marginal baseball fan you’re well aware of the talents of Anthony Rizzo the player. If you live in Chicago, or Florida even, you’re well aware of the generosity of Anthony Rizzo the humanitarian.
Thanks to Carl and Big Cat tirelessly documenting and helping to cover Anthony’s career, the Red Sox drafting, cancer battle, Padres trade, Cubs trade, World Series Curse breaking, everybody should be familiar by now.
Whitesox Dave is on the record multiple times stating he is his favorite player today and the one guy he would build a team around.
(Side note- does anybody have a pic of Big Cat’s old Rizzo Microsoft Paint shirt design with Tony Soprano on one side? We need to get those into production)
What needs more attention from everybody is Anthony’s Foundation and what it’s accomplished and continues to day in and day out.
Since 2012 the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation has been helping families battle pediatric cancer by being their support system and taking care of the financial stresses in partnership with the Lurie Children’s Hospital here in Chicago.
You can ask anybody close to Anthony where he could be found on one of his rare days off and they’ll tell you he started the day off popping in to the hospital to surprise the kids and the staff. No cameras, no publicity. Just his wife and usually his close friends in tow, along with his amazing foundation team members. He has a special deal with the kids that they have to sign a #44 jersey for him that he keeps in exchange for his autograph.
He’s just a really good guy surrounded by really good people.
Which brings me to what the foundation has been doing EVERY DAY since Covid-19 began wreaking havoc on our lives.
These times have been really tough for everybody. Especially tough for our medical workers on the front lines and those in the hospitality industry who were dealt a deathblow basically overnight.
Three weeks ago Anthony and his foundation had the idea to help both groups out by purchasing large orders (of carefully prepared) meals from local Chicago restaurants and delivering them to Chicago-land hospitals to treat their staff.
It’s been a pleasant and welcomed surprise in what’s otherwise been extremely long overworked and overstressed days.
Just look at how happy and thankful these doctors and nurses have been in these pics.
(Barstool Chicago favorite JP Graziano is getting in the game and helping with a huge order next week on the 14th)
Abby Suarez, the executive director of the foundation, has said that on several occasions when she’s called to place orders, restaurant owners have broken down crying when she’s insisted on the foundation paying full price.
Again, they’ve been doing this everyday for three weeks now going on four with hopes of ramping it up.
These orders, along with all of our everyday orders, are helping our favorite neighborhood restaurants stay afloat, keep employees, and pay their rent right now.
These meals are brightening the days of the people who are risking their own lives to help save ours.
They’ve also expanded the operation to help out area hospitals around the Scottsdale area (Cubs Spring Training Home) and in Anthony’s hometown of Ft. Lauderdale/Parkland.
They’re delivering to as many as 4-5 hospitals some days now in just 3 weeks since beginning.
The foundation got a big boost from a feature on ABC WORLD NEWS last week.
Now to the part on how you can help.
Big time good guy and future Saint Mr. Tom O’Reilly (not to be confused with Chris Farley’s dad in Tommy Boy, aka the one and only Brian Dennehy) has stepped up huge and announced they will be matching donations Dollar-For-Dollar.
This way your $20 donation turns into 40 and you are not only helping our front line medical workers but also you local neighborhood restaurants.
It’s a win-win. No brainer.
ALL YOU HAVE TO DO IS TEXT HOPE44 TO 52000 OR VISIT – WWW.RIZZO44.COM TO DONATE.
If you are a local Chicago restaurant looking to help out, donate, or get involved please reach out to me on twitter –
www.twitter.com/dantethedon or email dantebarstool@gmail.com and we will get you involved.
Thank you all for reading. I know not everybody is able to donate right now but if you can it’s greatly appreciated by SO MANY people.
Fuck Cancer.