A $3 Million Moment Is Within Reach
In July 1973, a reporter asked Mets manager Yogi Berra if his team’s season was finished. They were sitting in last place. Berra looked at him and said, “It ain’t over ’til it’s over.”
California Masons have so far achieved $2.67 million in lifetime contributions to Masons4Mitts, and have a September deadline that could push that number past $3 million for the first time in the program’s history. Last year was our strongest single-year showing yet, with $298,979 raised.
We are close enough to that $3 million milestone that you can almost smell the pine tar!
What’s A Little Friendly Competition Between Brothers?
Each year, each region’s teams compete against each other to send their lodge to raise the most money and send their captain to the on-field check presentation at “Masons Night at the Ballpark” in September. Visit freemason.org/Masons4Mitts to donate on behalf of your team, check out the leaderboards to see who’s winning, and cheer on your team.
This year’s regional targets break down as follows:
- Northern California / Giants Community Fund: $135,000
- Greater Los Angeles / LA Dodgers Foundation: $85,000
- Orange County / Angels Foundation: $55,000
- San Diego / Padres Foundation: $50,000
Northern California alone set a regional record last year with $133,231 for the Giants’ Junior Giants program—so that $135,000 target is genuinely attainable. Every region has something to prove, and a little friendly competition between lodges doesn’t hurt anyone.
The Summer Slide Doesn’t Wait
Most people aren’t thinking about summer in March, but the kids this program serves can't afford that luxury. Researchers call it the “summer slide”—the gap that opens up over summer break between children who have access to enrichment and those who don’t. Nine in ten teachers spend at least three weeks re-teaching lessons at the start of every school year. The achievement gap between high- and low-income students has grown by 30% to 40% over the past generation.
The MLB partner programs Masons4Mitts helps fund sit directly in the middle of that problem: structured, joyful, intentional weeks where kids build study habits and develop the kind of teamwork that doesn't show up on a report card but matters anyway. And it isn’t just baseball that these kids learn. The Los Angeles Dodgers’ community foundation’s slogan, for instance, is “Bigger than Baseball”—a reference to the wide range of educational, health care, and youth development programs it operates or sponsors.
What’s Actually on That Glove
Every participant gets a quality leather mitt with a square and compass burned into the leather. No child shows up empty-handed while the kid next to them has equipment. No family has to decide whether they can swing the cost of gear. The glove is an equalizer, and the mark on it says who put it there.
Doug Ismail, President of the California Masonic Foundation, puts it this way: “Masons4Mitts has always been about more than a baseball glove. It's a way to unite us as Masons, bring joy to the children who get to attend a fun summer learning experience. Reaching our goals in 2026 will show our communities that we care.”
What Works
The most effective thing a lodge can do is make it a moment and make it personal. Get members in a room, talk about the kids and pass a hat. It sounds almost embarrassingly simple, but it works because the cause is real, the impact direct, and every little bit helps us get to our goal. It’s also the kind of fundraising that folks respond to best: one of their friends, a peer (called a team captain in the Masons4Mitts program), telling them how much they personally care about the work. One person like that making a pitch in front of a room has an effect that a hundred emails can’t match.
Masons Nights with our MLB partners are also worth the calendar space—not just as a fun evening out, but as one of the best low-pressure environments we have to introduce the fraternity to someone new. Prospects, families, friends—a ballpark is a genuinely good place to start a conversation.
Show Up This Season
Three million dollars by September is a milestone worth owning, but only if every lodge treats this season like it matters. Yogi Berra was right in 1973. His team had no business winning that division, and they won it anyway—in the final weeks, with everyone already counting them out.
We’ve got a lot more going for us than the 1973 Mets and we have until September to do it.
The gloves are waiting. Play ball! |
