BOSTON (WHDH) - The Red Sox are stepping up to the plate in Roxbury, not with bats, but with paint brushes and power tools.
Volunteers are spending the day transforming a teen and after-school center at the Roxbury tenants of Harvard. They rolled out fresh paint and pitched in wherever they were needed.
Sox pitcher Tanner Houck was among those helping out.
“Love giving back to the amazing city of Boston,” Houck said. “It’s truly been a second home for me and my wife so just stepping up and doing little things like this, that’s why it really matters.”
From walls to gardens, volunteers put in the work, painting bright new spaces and building planters that will grow for years to come.
The project, led by Rebuilding Together Boston, is a continuation of commemorations for One Boston Day and has been months in the making.
“Oh my gosh, we are overwhelmed with the excitement and the motivation,” Janice Walker, Rebuilding Together Boston Executive Director. “We’re putting bookshelves together, giving them new books, we’re revitalizing the teen center. The Red Sox are redoing a lounge, it’ll become the Red Sox lounge for teens.”
Dozens and dozens of people are helping out. Karen Gately with the center says this will impact so many families in a great way.
“We have kids and people who live in our property, and it’s so great that they come in and have facilities and programs that are beautiful looking to match the programs that we want to offer,” Gately said. “We want them to feel good in the space that makes them feel good, and just have an environment that says they matter.”
Gately said this is about more than just a fresh coat of paint; it’s about being seen and supported.
“We’re in the shadows of Fenway Park, and it’s so great that they remember us and the community,” Gately said.
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