Yankees Bring HOPE to the Muddy Puddles Project at Mohawk Day Camp
The NY Yankees kicked-off 2018 HOPE Week at the Mohawk Day Camp on Old Tarrytown Road. The Yankees HOPE Week is a community initiative started in 2009 with the fundamental belief that acts of goodwill provide “hope” and encouragement to more than just the recipient of the gesture.
The entire Yankees organization including General Manager Brian Cashman, Manager Aaron Boone, his coaching staff and the players participate in Hope Week. Furthermore, the Yankees minor league affiliates located across the country plan and hold their own Hope Week community initiatives.
This year’s weeklong Yankees HOPE Week was held June 11-15 and began locally at the Mohawk Day Camp in White Plains. Yankees General Partner and Vice Chairperson Jennifer Steinbrenner Swindal, Manager Aaron Boone, pitcher Sonny Gray, shortstop Didi Gregorius, leftfielder Brett Gardner, Bench Coach Josh Bard and members of the New York City Football Club, an affiliate of the Yankees organization, all participated in the event.
Yankees Hope Week initiatives are not announced to the recipients prior to each event. The Yankees surprised Cindy and Louis Campbell, the founders of the Muddy Puddles Project at the Mohawk Day Camp on June 11.
The Campbell Family founded the Muddy Puddles Project after their two-year old son, Ty Campbell, passed away from brain cancer at the young age of five years old. Ty fought a gallant three-year battle against the disease with his parents at his side the entire time.
While going through cancer treatments and Ty’s prognosis not looking good, Cindy, trying to sustain a positive outlook, asked her son, “What he wanted to do when he felt better?” Ty’s response “I’m going to jump in a muddy puddle,” resembling what his cartoon hero Peppa Pig did on television.
Ty never got the chance to jump in the muddy puddle as he passed away on Oct. 17, 2012. But many people across the nation, including the Yankees and the NYCFC and even his favorite cartoon character Peppa Pig have been jumping in puddles ever since for him. The jumping in mud events in remembrance of Ty Campbell are designated as “ Mess Fest” and raise attention and funds for pediatric cancer research.
The Muddle Puddles Project was formed after Ty’s passing when his parents requested in lieu of flowers and in honor of their late son that their peers let their children celebrate childhood by jumping in muddy puddles. The response was overwhelming as the Campbells received hundreds of photographs of children playing in the mud and jumping in puddles.
Thus Cindy and Louis Campbell founded the Muddy Puddles Project in memory of their late son “to inspire parents to let their children have more fun, while also raising much needed attention and funding for Pediatric Cancer research.”
As part of HOPE Week, the White House’s Corporation for National and Community Service awards honorees, the “President’s Volunteer Service Award,” to salute the volunteers who strengthen the nation’s culture of service.
The Campbells also threw out the Ceremonial First Pitch before the Yankees played the Washington Nationals, on Tuesday, June 12. Moreover, the Yankees won the game 3-0, so the Campbell Family joined the postgame on-field celebration with the team. There is HOPE, in Yankees pinstripes and they are sharing it throughout the country.
