In January, Blaise Pellegrini, Jack Schuster, Luke Capaldi, Dom Robustelli, Jalen Bowman, Jason Zurawski, Sean Halladay, John Kealey, and Holden Stephenson all went on a service trip to Mexico and donated baseball supplies to children that don’t have the chance to have cool bats and flashy outfits. This organization also helps teach the game of baseball to underprivileged children so they can all unite and be together no matter what race, language, or gender, while also protecting children from the temptations of the cartel and their recruitment.
Project Beisbol isn’t just helping kids in Mexico but also around some of South America and Central America, including countries like Columbia, Brazil, El Salvador, Nicaragua, and Guatemala.
According to Blaise Pellegrini, Justin Hallady, class of ‘95 founded Project Beisbol in 2008 with only the initial equipment and morale from his teammates Ed John, Jeff Hilliard, Tim Donnelly, Brett Antell (’95) and current board member Ken Makowski (‘90). Justin founded Project Beisbol because he knew how unjust Sports are in South and Latin America and wanted to help by bringing people together with the sport of baseball. Through Justin’s studies abroad and travels to South and Latin America, he saw so much potential in some children for the sport, but they had no gear and no coaches to teach them the game properly. He wanted to help and he did through his passion for baseball and united areas through the sport of baseball. With all of his hard work and dedication, the organization’s volunteers all saw how people were united through the world of sports. This project started with equipment donations, but has grown to an educational institution through the alliance and support of Malvern Prep.
Malvern Prep found this organization through alumni including Justin Halladay, class of ‘95, Jeff Hilliard, class of ‘95, and Freddy Hilliard (Coach of the baseball team), all of whom helped this organization grow. Their work got the attention of Dr. Sillup and Mr. Algeo, making them want to help the organization even more. Since then, 25 students from Malvern Prep have traveled to these countries as a service trip and have donated baseball supplies to kids in need, greatly helping them and the generations to come.
