Special Education teacher Isaias Franco is collecting donations of baseball equipment and traveling to the Dominican Republic for Homeruns 4 Humanity, a baseball camp for underprivileged children. He started collecting donations in May, and so far over 100 baseball gloves, 300 jerseys,  25 bats,  50 new baseballs, 10 batting helmets, five catcher’s masks, and 40 new hats have been collected from the Tam community.

Franco has been involved in the baseball community outside of Tam for many years. “I have been involved in helping players market themselves at different events. A lot of retired  [athletes] still need to make an income, so I help them connect with promoters at autograph conventions. I am kinda like the middle man. I help them get their travel accommodations, help them get in touch to be on the schedule at conventions, so I’ve just known a lot of baseball players throughout my day,” Franco said.

Through his connections, Franco came in contact with Ramon and Pedro Martinez, two former major league baseball players from the Dominican Republic. The brothers have started a baseball camp for underprivileged children. Using baseball as an avenue to hope and opportunity, the two are utilizing the sport as a medium to support Dominican children. “So when I get there I am going to help do some coaching, gonna meet all the kids, and take a ton of pictures and videos,” Franco said. “When I come back I will have some more material to share with everyone so people can see exactly where their donations are going and then how big a difference one, old baseball glove can make.”