The Seeds of the Mission

It started with a trip. In the summer of 2021, brothers Landon and Ryan Penney traveled to the Dominican Republic (the home country of their coach and inspiration, Jorge Minyety) and saw kids playing baseball with all the heart in the world and almost none of the equipment.

The foundation launched on July 1, 2021, and within weeks the first drives delivered: 350+ items collected at 12 Cold Beers & Cheeseburgers locations and nearly 80 more from the Scottsdale Dirtbags. That August, the first delivery to San Pedro de Macorís turned community donations into hundreds of unforgettable smiles, and planted the seeds of everything that followed.

Everything that followed (the equipment drives, the scholarships, the Balsz Home2First Baseball League) grew from this trip and a simple belief: every child deserves a chance to play, grow, and thrive.