The Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation can be found at http://rizzo44.com/. Donate here
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/AnthonyRizzoFamilyFoundation/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/RizzoFoundation
Anthony Rizzo has a fantastic charity that supports families with kids who have cancer. It began when Anthony was diagnosed with Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the age of 18. At the time he was recently drafted, and playing single A ball in the Boston Red Sox organization. For 6 months he had to undergo chemotherapy, and his baseball future was in doubt. In September he was told that he was in remission, and then November 18th he was declared cancer free.
Shortly thereafter, Anthony worked with his family to found The Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation, a 501 (c) (3) non profit. They gather donations via their website, host cook offs and laugh off fundraising events. Anthony hosts a walk off every single year in his hometown of Parkland FL. He has raised millions for fighting pediatric cancer over the years. Most recently they raised over 1.3 million:
Some organizations that the ARFF supports: Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at University of Miami, Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital, Ann & Robert Lurie Children's Hospital, and Family Reach Foundation. They also financially and emotionally support many families with children suffering from cancer. They've done things like organize gift card drives for hospital stricken kids. Another time they paid a mother's car and insurance bills so she could keep functioning and support her sick child.
Anthony will personally visit cancer stricken kids in hospitals throughout the year. He will even go during the day when he's got a baseball game to play at night.
Here is is bringing a birthday cake to a kid in the hospital:
Tearing up yet? Grab the tissues. I've got a personal connection to this charity to share.
Meg was my wife's first post-college roommate. They worked together at Starbucks for many years. Meg became great friends to both of us, and even stood in our wedding. Meg has a sister Ellie, who has a son named Chase. Chase is 9 years old.
At age 2, Chase was diagnosed with Atypical Teratoid Rhabdoid Tumor, AT/TR. It's a malignant extremely aggressive cancer of the central nervous system. He was given a 20% chance to live. After major brain surgery and lots of chemo, the tumor was gone from his brain and spine. He's had lots of fallout health issues since then. Unfortunately in January 2019, cancer came back, and he was diagnosed with Papillary Thyroid Carcinoma. He's in treatment now, and it seems to be working. There's a long road ahead.
Chase is lucky to even be alive. Part of what's supported him has been the ARFF. Anthony himself has personally reached out and visited with chase many times over the years. Through many ups and many downs. Here's a couple moments I pulled from Chase's Facebook support group and ARFF's Facebook page of Anthony and Chase.
Going through those photos, you'll see that Anthony has met with Chase at the hospital, brought him through Wrigley Field, hosted him at fundraiser events, played with him and gotten him gifts.
One time, Chase got to hit batting practice at Wrigley with Anthony. What a cool experience for the kid.
One of my favorite moments was the day Chase went in for treatment for his second bout with cancer. Anthony Rizzo personally reached out to him on twitter to let him know he was rooting for him.
I've been involved with a lot of charities over the years. I have never seen an athlete make such a consistent impact in their community as Anthony Rizzo has.
Anthony Rizzo cares. He's not some politician type who poses for a few photos for clicks and moves on. If you follow the foundation closely, you'll see that there is some kind of event happening once a week. And it is all because Anthony realized that his platform put him the the place to be able to make such an impact, and followed through on his calling.
If you are looking for a charity to support this holiday season, I highly encourage you to consider the Anthony Rizzo Family Foundation.
As an added bonus, ARFF is raffling off some Rizzo memorabilia. But you have to donate TODAY by 10am!