August 28, 2024

When Chicago White Sox first baseman Andrew Vaughn arrived at Mercy Home’s front door earlier this summer, he donned his personal number 25 road-gray jersey.

The 26-year-old had a game against the Minnesota Twins scheduled later that evening, but before he headed down to the South Side, he wanted to make the day special for some of our kids. Vaughn spoke to our young people, signed autographs, and even played catch with a few of the boys on Mercy Home’s Field of Dreams.

“My favorite part was getting to play catch with a major leaguer,” Kaden, a Mercy Home youth and baseball player himself, said. “I’d never done that before.”

Before Vaughn surprised our young people, he was greeted by Mercy Home coworkers, including President & CEO Fr. Scott Donahue, and given an overview of our work with young people and families. He also discussed his own personal community program, Going, Going, Vaughn, and the work it’s doing in the Chicago area.

“The Vaughns are all about finding ways to give back,” Marlin Exton, Mercy Home’s director of post-secondary options, scholarships, and resources, said. “They seem to be dedicated to giving back to young people. And getting a White Sox first baseman here was like an ‘Oh my God’ moment. It’s just a cool thing that a lot of kids wouldn’t get to see.”

The young people, who were in the middle of their Summer Career Institute (SCI) programs, were working in their daily jobs, which included washing Mercy Home vehicles and gardening. So, when Vaughn approached them, it came as a total shock.

“We wanted to make sure the kids were surprised,” Exton said. “Sometimes when you know something big is coming, it’s hard to contain your energy, so they just approached the day as a normal day. For kids who watch sports, they knew who Andrew was.”

One youth, Lawrence, was eager to show Vaughn the van he had just finished washing. Lawrence said he’d never met a White Sox player before, and that Vaughn was funny.

“Our progress on the car was excellent,” he said. “We showed him how clean it was and the details on the back of the car.”

Mercy Home’s SCI program teaches kids team building and networking skills for when they ultimately join the workforce. As part of the program, the boys were invited to a game and welcomed by the White Sox at Guaranteed Rate Field later in the summer. They heard from a diverse panel of workers at the White Sox organization and got to walk on the field.

“I yelled ‘Andrew Vaughn, I played catch with you yesterday,’” Kaden said, recalling the game he attended. “He acknowledged me.”

This event is just one example of Mercy Home’s enduring partnership with the Chicago White Sox. The relationship spans more than a century back to the Charles Comiskey days when Mercy Home operated out of three old and cramped residences on the West Side of Chicago.

In 1908, Comiskey organized a charitable baseball game between aldermen from St. Louis and Chicago to fund construction for a new permanent building to house the mission. On August 15, 1908, roughly 6,000 fans came to the 39th Street Grounds for “Comiskey’s Day for Newsboys and Waifs.” The game raised $10,000 and helped cover the cost to build the space that would change the lives of thousands of young people over the the next century. 

Recently, the White Sox have been major financial supporters of our Education and Career Resource department. That made Vaughn’s visit during the middle of Summer Career Institute so special.  

“I think the kids saw that someone like that took time out to come see them,” Exton said. “You just remember something like that for your whole lifetime.”

Before leaving, Vaughn bought the Rainbow Cone ice cream truck to hand out sweet summer treats to our young people. 

“His engagement with the youth and their engagement with him was ideal,” Exton said. “And the kids weren’t even prepared because we kept it from them. It was just great. The kids were just great. He could have carried around conversations for way longer. It was incredible. It was heartwarming when he played catch with two of our kids. I think it made their… life. I think they’ll remember it for the rest of their lives.”