David M. Winfield Foundation
2306 Coney Island Ave.
Brooklyn, NY, 11223
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Dave Winfield was one of the first active athletes to establish a charitable foundation. From its humble beginnings in 1975, to an internationally acclaimed substance abuse prevention program, the David M. Winfield Foundation, with a $4 million endowment (funded primarily by Winfield), provided the following services to underprivileged youth, families in need, and the cities which he played.
PAVILION PROGRAM (1975-1991)
In 1975, Dave began buying blocks of tickets to Padres baseball games for children in San Diego. The program was soon expanded throughout all National League cities, and when Winfield joined the Yankees in 1981, it extended to American League cities. In 1978, Dave planned to bring 500 kids to the All-Star Game, hosted in San Diego. In a radio interview the day before, he inadvertently invited “all the kids of San Diego” to attend. Over 10,000 showed up — and Dave brought them all into batting practice. The sponsors brought in more food and souvenirs, and a dozen athletes (including then baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn) were on hand to sign autographs. It was the first open All-Star batting practice. MLB has since opened up All-Star festivities. The Foundation staged similar All-Star events in Seattle, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Montreal and Minneapolis. Major League Baseball has since opened All-Star batting practice to the community — and raises funds for local charities as a result of this Foundation program.
SCHOLARSHIP AWARDS (from 1976)
Winfield wanted to give something back to his hometown of St. Paul, Minnesota, so he launched the Winfield Student-Athlete Award in 1976. It recognizes and provides financial awards to outstanding high school graduates and citizens in the community. This program was brought to New York City (1981-1986) where $40,000 was awarded annually to students from public schools. Additionally, the Foundation provided scholarship awards to the winners of the citywide Spelling Bee, Art Expo, Orchestra, Chorus, Science and Golden Hoops competitions. Recipients have attended such universities as Columbia, Cornell, Duke, Georgetown, Harvard, Julliard, Morehouse School of Medicine, NYU, Pace, Princeton and Yale. To date, over 300 students have been able to continue their higher education through the Winfield Scholarship Program.
HOLIDAY CELEBRATIONS (1981-1986)
By far everyone’s favorite program, the Foundation distributed toys, clothing and complete holiday dinners to over 12,000 families-in-need at holiday celebrations in New York and New Jersey.
HEALTHFAIRS/CLINICS (1977-1987)
In conjunction with the Scripps Clinic in San Diego, the Foundation introduced H.O.P.E. (Health Optimization Planning and Education) , a program that combined proper diet, exercise and full medical and dental checkups.
Prior to a Pavilion, clinics were conducted at the stadium parking lot. When the program was expanded to Minnesota and New York, the Foundation began to shift from stadium settings to on-site at hospitals and community centers in under-served areas. Over 40,000 kids have benefited from these healthcare services.
Winfield also funded the Dave Winfield Nutrition Center at Hackensack Hospital which is still in operation.
SUBSTANCE ABUSE PREVENTION (from 1985)
In 1985, the primary focus of the Winfield Foundation became substance abuse prevention. Research revealed the average age for first-use of drugs was 10, and Dave saw a clear need for early intervention.
The Foundation, in conjunction with such notable children’s advocates as Sesame Street, introduced TURN IT AROUND! — a lifeskills development program targeted to children 8-12. Consisting of a 22-minute interactive video, 32 page activity guide — and a full-day “train-the-trainer” seminar for adult leaders, TURN IT AROUND! was used across the country and internationally.
In 1994, the program was translated into Spanish and became a prevention tool in public schools in Puerto Rico.
WIN WITH WINFIELD (1992)
When Dave joined the Toronto Blue Jays, he created Win With Winfield — a season-long fundraising campaign to benefit the children of Toronto. For every home run he hit, Winfield donated a $1000 – and corporate and individual sponsors matched the gift. Over $80,000 was raised for Children’s Breakfast Clubs in public schools.
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