Kerry Wood is a hero on and off the field. For 13 years Kerry played major league baseball; 11 of those years were with the Chicago Cubs! He and his wife Sarah started the Wood Family Foundation in 2011 to give back to the community that gave them so much during his career.Kerry and Sarah just started paying attention to the needs of the families and the needs of the kids. The Foundation’s largest initial effort involves funding a playroom for the children receiving treatment for cancer at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago. The playroom acts as a welcome distraction for the children going thru such scary diseases and treatments. It also puts a smile in the faces of the hospital staff to see the kids having fun. The new playroom has a toy kitchen, train engine set, puzzles, games an big screen TV to watch their favorite movies.The Wood Family Foundation not only funded the Lurie’s Children’s Hospital playroom but have initiated other programs to help children citywide. They provided school supply kits to 10,000 children and they adopt a local school in December to do a toy and coat drive. The Foundation is committed to working toward funding both immediate and long-term relief projects for various children’s issues supporting many children’s charities in and around Chicago. Even though Kerry’s job is no longer on the baseball field Sarah makes sure her children knows the family has a new job to help families and children in need. The next project for the Wood Family is building a baseball field for high school students on the city’s north side.
For more information on the Wood Family Foundation check out their website.
