Knights Care 4 CLT Shirt
100% of proceeds will go to the Knights Care 4 CLT fund to help those affected by COVID-19.
The Charlotte Knights are pleased to announce that the team’s “Knights Care 4 CLT” initiative, which was launched back on April 15, has raised over $125,000 and the team will now disperse the funds to those affected by COVID-19. With help from a $75,000 donation from naming rights partner, Truist, and additional contributions from Charlotte Knights Charities, sponsors and fans, the team will donate those funds to healthcare workers, seven local-area charities, and Knights’ employees (part-time, game-day, and full-time) who are in need.
“As this pandemic continues to affect so many in our community, we are very pleased to begin dispersing these much-needed funds to those who need some help,” stated Dan Rajkowski, Charlotte Knights Chief Operating Officer. “We are so thankful to Truist, as well as our generous partners and fans who helped us raise these funds for those in need. Baseball has a way of bringing communities together and we hope that we are able to help those in the community who have been affected by this difficult time in our nation’s history.”
In addition to the funds dispersed to Knights’ displaced employees due to COVID-19 from the cancellation of the 2020 season, the team is also contributing $15,000 from the “Knights Care 4 CLT” fund to Atrium Health, one of the team’s founding partners.
Rajkowski added, “In the face of this pandemic, our healthcare workers rose to the challenge and continued to care for our community in this time of need. As a part of our Knights Care 4 CLT campaign, we are very pleased to donate a portion of the funds to the Atrium Health Essential Needs Fund, addressing PPE and supply shortages.”
“It’s generous support from community partners like the Charlotte Knights that continues to enhance Atrium Health’s efforts to fulfill its mission of providing the best care to all during the current pandemic,” said Armando Chardiet, President of Atrium Health Foundation. “The Charlotte Knights organization has been a close friend of the Foundation since 2002, and we are extremely grateful for their recent $15,000 contribution to the Atrium Health Essential Needs Fund.”
As part of this initiative, the Knights have selected seven local Charlotte area nonprofits who were in need of some extra funding during these unprecedented times. Organizations receiving the allocated funds -- a total of $40,000 -- include Bright Blessings, Care Ring, Classroom Central, Promising Pages, Roof Above, Second Harvest Food Bank and A Child’s Place | Thompson Child & Family Focus. As part of the financial donations to these organizations, members of the team’s front office staff will also volunteer their time from August 3-10 during the club’s annual “Week of Giving” presented by Truist. The Knights’ front office staff committed to a goal of 500 community service hours through non-profits, blood drive contributions, and an educational outreach program as part of the Knights Care 4 CLT campaign. To date, the Knights have given 550+ hours back to the community through various in-person and virtual volunteer opportunities.
Support Knights Care 4 CLT
Charlotte Knights Masks
100% of proceeds will go to the Knights Care 4 CLT fund to help those affected by COVID-19.
Week of Giving Presented by Truist
Promising Pages
We kicked off our "Week of Giving" presented by Truist by donating $5,000 to Promising Pages.
Since March, this great organization has provided children in our area 102,700 books.
Our team helped clean, sticker, and sort donated books that will be distributed to children in our community.
Promising Pages has a bold goal of distributing 350,000 books a year, and we are proud to be part of this mission.
THANK YOU for your hard work in the Charlotte community!
Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina
Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina has an overall goal of eliminating hunger in our community. They serve 24 counties, spanning across North and South Carolina and have over 800 partner agencies that they provide food for.
Knights front office staff spent the morning in their warehouse, sorting food and other basic necessities. Since COVID-19 hit, their staff has been working around the clock to ensure they achieve their mission, despite the growing need in our local community.
We are excited to recognize them for the work they have done over the last few months and donate $7,500 from the Knights Care 4 CLT Fund to aid in the purchase of much needed and hard to find food items.
Classroom Central
Classroom Central equips students in need to effectively learn by collecting and distributing free school supplies to both kids and their teachers. They serve over 200 schools across six school districts in the Charlotte region.
The $5,000 donation from our Knights Care 4 CLT campaign will be going towards their new program, Backpacks and Basics, providing local students with free backpacks filled with school supplies. While school may be virtual, the need for physical school supplies is still very much apparent and we are happy to support this initiative.
Our staff spent the morning packing up teacher orders for pickup now that the free store is no longer accessible. Even Homer got involved!
Join us in supporting this great organization.
Bright Blessings
What started as birthday celebrations once a month for hundreds of homeless children has turned into an entire educational and enrichment program that provides kids with gifts, new books, and most importantly, basic care essentials.
The $5,000 donation from our Knights Care 4 CLT campaign will create over 1,000 hygiene kits for homeless children.
With schools out for the summer and most likely not returning for quite some time, most of the students who would receive these basic needs throughout the school day now go without. These kits will go to the most vulnerable children in Charlotte.
Today our staff helped pack over 200 Pre-K bags and constructed birthday goodie bags for Bright Blessings birthday parties in the future.
A Child's Place and Thompson
Homer and the Knights staff were honored to spend time with some awesome kids from the Friends of the Children program through A Child's Place and Thompson. We had a ton of fun designing jerseys together.
A Child's Place works to erase the impact of homelessness on children and their education.
We were proud to also give a $7,500 donation from our Knights Care 4 CLT campaign. This will help A Child's Place in its mission to continue to meet the needs of homeless students in our community.