Challenger Baseball of Cherry Hill accepted Dunkin’ donations of tickets to the Savannah Bananas game last month.
Members of a township Little League team comprised of children and young adults with disabilities and special needs got a surprise last month, when the local Dunkin’ presented each player and coach with tickets to the July 27 Savannah Bananas game at Citizens Bank Park.
The donation to Challenger Baseball of Cherry Hill took place two days earlier at the township’s Little League fields.
Team members range in age from 4 to 25, so any interested player can participate regardless of ability level or mobility. Challenger Baseball coaches, Pete Meosky and Steve Silverman, explained how Dunkin’ reached out to offer the donation.
“They just asked if they were interested, and we jumped on board right away,” Silverman said. “They just, they found, they found us through their research.”
Dunkin’ set up its Community Cruiser – a van with samples of its products – and offered drinks of cookie dough-flavored iced coffee and guava refreshers to those at the baseball fields on donation day. Also on hand was company mascot Cuppy, who greeted the crowd and took pictures with the team.
Guests and players got to play Cornhole branded in the company’s colors, and donuts were customized for the team. Oversized versions of the game tickets were also on display.
Jamie Struwe is the senior field marketing manager for Dunkin’ in the greater Philadelphia area.
“We kind of just put some feelers out” he explained. “We were like, ‘What’s a worthy organization that would, one, love baseball, and two, like to have some fun that may not be able to do otherwise?’ So we reached out to the Challenger baseball team and asked them if we could get together and do something special for the group.”
Struwe offered some background on the Savannah Bananas in advance of the game.
“It’s fantastic to give them the opportunity to go see this,” Meosky said. “Ever since they heard about it, they’ve been going online, watching the videos, watching the dancing and everything. They’re all excited.”
“I have never been to a Savannah Bananas game,” said the team’s Emily Payne. “I always see them on Facebook and other social media. I’m really excited to go.”
Shortly after the donation was announced, the wind picked up and it began to rain. But several team members and their families remained, among them player Harley Seher.
“I can’t wait to go to the game Sunday,” she enthused.
