“You don’t have to be a star. You’re a member of the Giants in uniform and you talk to a 12-year-old kid in the hospital or an older person who is sick and it’s magical. These are human beings. They love the fact that when they walk into a rec center or a senior center, they are introduced as a Giant. There is just this huge adulation and that has an impact.”
Shining a light
Another side of the Giants’ community service efforts is raising awareness of important issues that affect the health and well-being of the region. It was more than 20 years ago when the Giants held the first Until There’s A Cure Day to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic that was sweeping the nation.
“We needed to raise awareness and ask our community to get involved and make it an important issue because people were dying,” Daum says. “Not everyone agreed we should be doing it, but we said we were going to take a stand, that it was a crisis in our community. We’re not endorsing a lifestyle either way. But people are dying and we need to do something to help.”
Until There’s A Cure Day continues to this day and is one of a number of similar programs that bring to light issues such as violence prevention, anti-bullying, literacy, physical fitness and health concerns.
“We aren’t the expert on these issues, except for baseball, which we do pretty well,” Daum says. “But we’re always learning. We work with nonprofits who are experts on what’s happening in the community and we ask them how we can help them achieve their goals and objectives for those they are serving.”
Get creative
Each season, the Giants hold more than 375 community outreach and awareness programs and events either at AT&T Park or throughout the community. Last season alone, more than 45,000 game tickets were donated to 300 community groups through the Take Me Out to the Ballgame ticket donation program.
Daum works hard to accommodate as many requests for support as she can, but she adds that not everyone will get to have a one-on-one with Buster Posey or Madison Bumgarner.
“We’re in the yes business,” she says. “We may not be able to tell you yes and support you in the way you hoped when you came to us. But let’s get creative and find a way that does work for both of us so that we can support your cause or fulfill your request.”
At the end of the day, Daum says her goal is fairly simple.
“If one’s person life has been changed, it’s worth it,” she says.
