OAKLAND – There’s nothing like a day at the ballpark! Stephen and Ayesha Curry celebrated their third year anniversary of their Eat. Learn. Play. Foundation. They wanted to do something special on this day and decided to team up with the Oakland A’s to host more than 1,000 children from community organizations like Town Camp, Oakland Lacrosse, Street Soccer USA, Oakland Genesis Soccer Club, Oakland Zoo, and Oakland Public Library at the Coliseum today when the Athletics hosted the Houston Astros.
The day was designed to promote movement and exercise, literacy and fun, in addition to offering free giveaways and surprise-and-delight moments. Co-founded by Stephen and Ayesha Curry, Eat. Learn. Play. is committed to unlocking the amazing potential of every child by fighting to end childhood hunger, ensuring students have access to a quality education, and providing safe places for all children to play and be active.
“We’ve helped thousands of kids since we started this foundation three years ago,” said CEO Chris Helfrich, CEO of Eat. Learn. Play. “We started this journey by supporting summer camps across the city, we have kids from Oakland Parks and Recreation and lots of other organizations across the city. But we’ve been hard at feeding the community, making sure that kids are inspired and have the resources to become great readers.”
The Curry’s threw out the ceremonial first pitch. Afterward, the campers took the field with the A’s players for the national anthem. The kids got to see a great game as Oakland beat the Astros 4-2, completing a sweep of the series. The campers had lunch at the ballpark, visited the A’s Stomping Ground, and led the Coliseum crowd in “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” and enjoy postgame activities empowering the spirit of play. Curry also has a new children’s book coming out in September, he read a few pages to the kids who loved it.
“We’re rooted here in Oakland, so to be here with the A’s today is a dream come true for us,” Helfrich said. “This foundation started because the Curry’s wanted to give back to Oakland in a major way. And in a way that lasts a long time, I can truly say after working with them day in and day out, there’s nobody better.
We want do so much more, our main goal is to focus on kids at a young age, who are the future, we want them to be able to read and write. We want to remodel play spaces around the Bay Area and provide adequate meals so no kid is ever hungry.”
Eat. Learn. Play. is committed to unlocking the amazing potential of every child by fighting to end childhood hunger, ensuring students have access to a quality education, and providing safe places for all children to play and be active.
