St. Louis Challenger Baseball started in 1994 with the main focus being to make friends. Founder Buck Smith had an urge to give back. He hatched the idea after reading a story about a program in Connecticut that was an offshoot of Little League, tailored to meet the needs of players with developmental disabilities. Using the program as a guide, he threw out the rule book, opening the league to anyone with a developmental disability from age 5 to 90. Each player gets to bat every inning, each team gets an adult pitcher and if needed some can hit off a tee. Everybody runs the bases, some with the help of a volunteer buddy, and all under the supervision of a team coach. (Buddies are kids and young adults between the ages of 10 and 25 who don’t have a disability).  There are no outs, there is no score, everyone hits, everyone runs, everyone wins.

When Buck first introduced Challenger Baseball he had put a small ad in the newspaper and had about 15 players show up and the chaos began. A local softball team volunteered as buddies and helped organize the game, as up until that point it was just running around without direction as how to get everything going. As word spread, families in nearby counties wanted to participate, and today, at least 66 teams and over 800 players participate in Challenger Baseball in the Bi-State area. Leagues have formed now outside of the original St. Louis group, who play every spring at Tilles Park. Leagues in Madison County Illinois, St. Genevieve County, Pike County, Sikeston, Farmington, Ranken Jordan Rehabilitation Hospital, and Franklin County have all now expanded from the one league.

Challenger Baseball provides something to our community that was lacking before. The players flourish in social as well as physical ways. An introverted child can bloom on the field when he hits a ball and a wave of cheers lifts his spirits and makes him feel special. The friends that these players make are lifelong as many of our older players have been playing for 10+ years. The couple hours a week of playing baseball has helped so many players with physical therapy, anger issues, behavoral issues, and anti-social behavior. They can be whoever they want to be on that field. There’s nothing holding them back. They were a homerun hitting, fastest base running baseball player and they won. We all win.

Challenger Baseball depends on the generosity of friends and sponsors to help continue to grow and accommodate every single player who wants to play. They are a grass-roots organization, and have no affiliation with any corporations, foundations, or non-profits. They are a 501(C)(3) organization. The donations they receive go to uniforms that are provided to each player which include a team jersey, pants, socks and a team hat, equipment like batting helmets, many baseballs, bats, gloves, to help with transportation for some players, to help with the All-Star game at Berra Hill, the Awards Picnic, trophies, to help with playing at SLU High School, to play at the River City Rascals Field as well as having a night out their players.

For more information on Challenger Baseball, please visit http://www.challengerbaseball.org

President Franklin Roosevelt’s personal struggle with polio led him to create the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis at a time when polio was on the rise. Better known as the March of Dimes, the foundation established a polio patient aid program and funded research for vaccines developed by Jonas Salk, MD and Albert Sabin, MD. These vaccines effectively ended epidemic polio in the United States.

Its original mission accomplished, the foundation turned its focus to preventing birth defects and infant mortality. The March of Dimes has led the way to discover the genetic causes of birth defects, to promote newborn screening, and to educate medical professionals and the public about best practices for healthy pregnancy. We have supported research for surfactant therapy to treat respiratory distress and helped initiate the system of regional neonatal intensive care for premature and sick babies. Our recent Folic Acid Campaign achieved a dramatic reduction in the incidence of neural tube defects, birth defects of the brain and spine.

For more information on the March of Dimes, please visit their website www.marchofdimes.org

Friends of Kids with Cancer was founded in 1992 by Jill Turec, a Developmental Specialist, along with Molly Henry and Suzie Snowden, who were parents of children in treatment who witnessed their kids struggles and saw the need for diversions in their lives.

Friends of Kids with Cancer has a proud 25-year history exclusively in St. Louis of helping kids with cancer…be kids. Jill Turec, Developmental Specialist at Mercy Clinic Children’s Cancer and Hematology Center, along with concerned parents, Molly Henry and Susie Snowden, saw the great need to enrich the daily lives and divert the attention of the patients outside of the medical treatments. These three women shared a dream that every child with cancer would experience as much fun, laughter, support and normalcy as possible. It was this idea that was the birth of Friends of Kids with Cancer. Starting in the office of Dr. Bob Bergamini in 1992, the inaugural program, The Big Shelf, now known as the Toy Closet, was launched to brighten the long gloomy and painful days spent in the treatment center.

From that day on, Friends has been driven to meet the ever-evolving needs of not only the patients but their entire families. Everything Friends does is suggested by medical professionals and patient families. Dr. Bob’s philosophy is to “treat the needs of the entire child…not only the cancer”. Friends is such an important and unique charity because it gives back something that medicine can’t. The Educational, Emotional and Recreational programs build self-esteem and improve the quality of life to assure that the patients and their families remain positive, focused and prepared to meet their future needs.

Friends of Kids with Cancer has a unique niche for the families of children battling cancer: the glue. Cancer doesn’t just fight the blood cells in a child’s body; it puts a strain on the entire family physically, mentally and financially. Fighting cancer is tough for everyone, but for a child with so little life experiences, as well as the social and emotional handicaps that accompany their treatment, make it extremely trying. Friends of Kids with Cancer is the glue that mends and holds together all of the devastating pieces cancer creates.

Friends of Kids with Cancer doesn’t create miracles; those are left to modern medicine and the doctors and nurses who administer them. What we do, however, is create a positive frame of mind. Universally, being happy, positive and motivated makes every child more likely to succeed at whatever their goal happens to be. We believe the same applies here. Friends cultivates mental well-being with programs that help children and their families fighting cancer, cope with the daily challenges they face, make the best out of the situation they are in, and most importantly, remember that they will not be robbed of their childhood.

For more information on Friends of Kids with Cancer, please visit their website www.friendsofkids.com