The team at Midwest Sports Productions has a love of giving back that rivals its love of the game.
The company organizes regional tournaments for youth baseball and fastpitch softball, some of which involve more than 500 teams.
But it also partners with charities including Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, JDRF, House of Hope, Angels for Autism
and others.
“The need to serve tends to come with having a team of people on your staff that lead with their hearts and are filled up by serving others,” said Alexa DiSpirito, director of communications for MSP.
MSP can’t help but take advantage of its unique ability to reach thousands of young players, she said.
“Whether it’s asking our teams to rally behind a cause during an event through donations or bringing supplies during a diaper drive, in our minds, we’ve been given the platform to do so much more than just put on youth fastpitch and baseball events, and it’d be extremely unfortunate if we never did anything else with it,” DiSpirito said.
In April, MSP wrapped up the Alex Gordon Classic, in which teams were asked to participate in fundraising for the cause of fighting childhood cancer by putting on a lemonade stand or other event. More than 200 baseball teams participated, and the top three fundraisers earned prizes that included meeting Kansas City Royals left fielder Alex Gordon.
In the past four years of supporting Alex’s Lemonade Stand Foundation, MSP has helped raise $165,000.
Another cause supported by the company hits close to home. The Josh Williams Memorial Scholarship Fund honors an employee who died unexpectedly. Since 2013, it has awarded more than $61,000 to Kansas City-area high school seniors.
MSP’s staff also participates in community service, DiSpirito said.
“We try hard to do one team bonding exercise each month that does something for others,” she said. “We’ve bagged rice for Something to Eat, donated snack bags to the Ronald McDonald House and many others.”
To continue to capitalize on its platform, the company has allocated staff to its charitable arm, called MSP Love.
“Truthfully, we do so much, but it never seems like enough,” DiSpirito said. “Recently we’ve dedicated a few individuals on our team to focus solely on the community aspect of our company and bring to fruition all plans we have had in our back pockets for community outreach projects and ways we truly want to give back.”
