8th annual Red Sox Foundation Impact Awards now open for fan voting
BOSTON, MA – The Red Sox Foundation today announced that the voting period is now open for the 8th Annual IMPACT Awards presented by the Ruderman Family Foundation. Five nonprofit organizations from each state in New England, dedicated to raising awareness and improving mental health outcomes, have been nominated to receive grants.
An organization from each state will be selected to receive a first place grant of $10,000, a second place grant of $3,000, or a third place grant of $2,000 based on the number of online votes received. IMPACT Award winners will be recognized during a special pregame ceremony at Fenway Park on June 15 prior to the 7:10 p.m. Red Sox-Athletics game.
Fans can vote once per day at redsox.com/IMPACT through May 31. The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month.
"Mental health continues to be an ever-growing epidemic, accentuated by the COVID-19 pandemic. We are delighted to once again be partnering with the Red Sox Foundation on our annual IMPACT Awards as we look to address and normalize the stigma associated with mental health across society throughout New England and beyond," said Jay Ruderman, President of the Ruderman Family Foundation. "Each one of the organizations up for nomination have shown their commitment to carry out this important mission within their communities, and in recognizing and supporting these efforts, we hope others will be inspired to do the same."
Earlier this week, the Red Sox Foundation and Ruderman Family Foundation together pledged support to combat the stigma surrounding mental health in sports. At a panel discussion on May 2, the foundations recognized the continuing mental health crisis and the unique platform the sports industry has to raise awareness and reduce mental health stigma.
About the Red Sox Foundation
The official team charity of the Boston Red Sox, the Red Sox Foundation has awarded more than 5,000 grants since its creation in 2002 and focuses on making a difference in the lives of children, families, Veterans, and communities in need by improving their health, education, and recreational opportunities. Through partnerships with best-in-class organizations in healthcare, the Red Sox have helped raised over $156 million for cancer treatment and research for The Jimmy Fund, supported more than 30,000 Veterans and their families suffering from the “invisible wounds of war” with the Home Base Program, and helped the Dimock Center serve over 20,000 patients annually with health and human services. The Foundation’s self-run education and youth baseball programs have helped 325 Boston Public Schools students with college scholarships, and promotes healthy choices and valuable life skills to more than 2,000 urban youth annually through its RBI baseball and softball program. For more information about the foundation, visit redsoxfoundation.org.
About Ruderman Family Foundation
The Ruderman Family Foundation is an internationally recognized organization that works to end the stigma associated with mental health. The Foundation does this by identifying gaps in mental health resources and programs within the high school and higher education communities as well as by organizing other local and national programming and initiatives that raise greater awareness around the stigma.
The Ruderman Family Foundation believes that inclusion and understanding of all people is essential to a fair and flourishing community and imposes these values within its leadership and funding. For more information, please visit www.rudermanfoundation.org.