Rangers' Kyle Gibson Helps Raise Nearly $1 Million For Childhood Hunger Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

The Home Plate Project, led by Garth Brooks, Adam Wainwright, and Kyle Gibson, raised nearly $1 million to address childhood hunger amid the coronavirus pandemic.

A league-wide initiative by all 30 clubs in Major League Baseball and over 50 Major League players has raised nearly $1 million, providing over four million meals to help prevent childhood hunger in the wake of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. 

With schools currently shut down because of COVID-19, players personally reached out to each other to collect donations as part of the Home Plate Project, which is a partnership between Major League Baseball, Garth Brooks' Teammates for Kids Foundation and Big League Impact, which was founded by St. Louis Cardinals pitcher Adam Wainwright, and is currently led by Wainwright and Texas Rangers pitcher Kyle Gibson.

"This started last year when Garth and Adam made a connection some time at spring training," Kyle Gibson said in a conference call on Thursday. "That turned into Garth saying, 'Hey Adam, what if we do something in every big league city?' That turned into the Home Plate Project last year, where we had two guys from each team and we raised about $900,000 to feed kids."

Gibson also mentioned that with schools closing, MLB approached Garth Brooks about a month ago to see if they could roll out this year's project sooner. 

"We knew it was going to be challenging," Gibson said. "But as we called around and as players started saying 'Yes' and started stepping up, it was pretty clear and evident that we had a lot of guys that really cared about filling this need and helping these kids out. We were able to get it done, so that's pretty awesome."

More than 20 million students in the United States and Canada rely on school-provided free or reduced-price meals. With the urgency led by Garth Brooks, Adam Wainwright, and Kyle Gibson to accelerate their initiative, they were able to raise $937,100 for the effort.

The following Major League players are listed as the ambassadors for their respective teams in the project: 

• Arizona: Luke Weaver
• Atlanta: Mark Melancon
• Baltimore: Chris Davis
• Boston: Nate Eovaldi, Mitch Moreland
• Chicago Cubs: Daniel Descalso, Steven Souza Jr.
• Chicago White Sox: Steve Cishek
• Cincinnati: Sonny Gray, Michael Lorenzen
• Cleveland: Brad Hand, Shane Bieber, Nick Wittgren, Jake Bauers
• Colorado: Daniel Murphy, Nolan Arenado, Trevor Story
• Detroit: Matthew Boyd, Ron Gardenhire
• Houston: Justin Verlander
• Kansas City: Ian Kennedy, Trevor Rosenthal
• LA Angels: Albert Pujols, Jason Castro
• LA Dodgers: Clayton Kershaw
• Miami: Corey Dickerson, Sean Rodriguez
• Milwaukee: Brent Suter
• Minnesota: Marwin Gonzalez
• NY Mets: Steven Matz, Michael Wacha
• NY Yankees: DJ LeMahieu, Brett Gardner
• Oakland: Stephen Piscotty
• Philadelphia: Aaron Nola, Neil Walker
• Pittsburgh: Trevor Williams
• San Diego: Brian Dozier, Tommy Pham
• Seattle: Marco Gonzales
• San Francisco: Hunter Pence
• St. Louis: Paul Goldschmidt, Adam Wainwright
• Tampa Bay: Charlie Morton, Joey Wendle
• Texas: Kyle Gibson, Lance Lynn, Elvis Andrus, Robinson Chirinos
• Toronto: Chase Anderson, Randal Grichuk
• Washington: Yan Gomes

“We at Teammates are honored to be partnering with Adam and Kyle and the heroes of MLB for another year and another Home Plate Project," Garth Brooks said in a press release. "Last year’s impact was so great, and this year’s will be even better. I’m really proud of the players who are participating in this project, now when it’s needed most. It’s a joy and a privilege to be part of the healing.”

According to the Rangers, the funds designated to DFW relief will be going to Food for the Soul, which is partnering with local food distributors and churches to provide food to families and children who have been impacted by the COVID-19 crisis.

Gibson is making a huge impact in the Dallas-Fort Worth area before he's even pitched an official inning in a Rangers uniform. The Rangers signed him to a three-year contract last November. For Gibson, it's not about leaving their own legacy in the area, but just loving people. 

"My wife and I, we try to not look to put our own footprint," Gibson said. "We've been given a lot. We're in circumstances we never really thought we'd be in. We're just trying to do what is expected of us. We do a lot of it out of love and we've been loved in so many numerous ways. We feel like a part of our faith is making it important that we spread the love that we get and that we steward what we've been given...We try to do as much as we can. Some of it is going to be out in public, but a lot of it we try to do behind closed doors and just try to help people."

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