Blue Jays, Jays Care Foundation winners of philanthropy award

By Sportsnet Staff

The Toronto Blue Jays and Jays Care Foundation have been announced as the winners of the 2020 Allan H. Selig Award for Philanthropic Excellence in recognition of their community contributions.

The Blue Jays are now one of two MLB teams to have received this award twice.

Since the team was unable to utilize Rogers Centre as it normally would have this past summer, the Blue Jays instead used the stadium to help feed Canadians in need, temporarily converting it into a giant food bank facility. Through their Step Up to the Plate initiative (created to support Food Banks Canada), they wound up packing 8.1 million meals.

With Challenger Baseball, an adaptive baseball program which is specifically designed to empower children, youth and adults living with physical and/or cognitive disabilities, they helped provide 2,000 equipment kits.

Toronto also aided in enrolling 14,000 children and youth in virtual (an adjustment caused by the impact of COVID-19) spring and summer camp programs, and helped provide 13,000 books for youth and families.

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