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Meet the Action Team Player
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| Josh Barfield of the Cleveland Indians. |
Launch an Action Team in your school and you’ll join a network of Major League baseball players and high school students committed to community service. In the Action Team network, it’s not just students who are inspired by Major Leaguers. It works both ways. Just ask Josh Barfield, second baseman for the Cleveland Indians and a Cleveland Action Team player.
“I joined the Action Team because I wanted a chance to work with kids who are serious about helping in their communities,” says Barfield.
Action Team Captains applying for the Players Trust Scholarship introduced Barfield to the exceptional students and extraordinary volunteerism of the Action Team. As an Action Team Captain in your school, you could be eligible for a Players Trust Scholarship, a $1,000 award given for outstanding community service.
Impressed by Scholarship Students
Barfield was at a meeting of the Major League Baseball Players Trust when he volunteered to serve on the Players Trust Scholarship Committee. At the time, there was no Cleveland Action Team. Barfield reviewed applications for the spring 2008 awards, the first time the scholarship was given. Deciding on the 16 scholarship winners – one per Action Team location – was tough. As he read, Barfield was more and more impressed by the Action Team Captains.
“These are really incredible kids,” states Barfield. “They are great students. They’re involved in sports and other activities at school. And they are out in the community volunteering. They’re organizing food drives and helping in homeless shelters,” Barfield explains.
“I remember high school,” he adds. “There’s a lot of work, plus you want time to hang out with your friends. I am amazed by what the Action Team Captains do.”
Making a Difference in Awesome Ways
Barfield helped select the Players Trust Scholarship winners again this year. “We had even more applications, which is great,” says Barfield. “We want to expand the number of applicants and help more outstanding kids go to college.” There are 23 Players Trust Scholarship winners for 2009.
One part of the scholarship application that particularly moves Barfield is the two-page essay that each student writes. “There was an awesome girl last year whose father had passed away. Whenever she reads about a local family losing a parent, she makes a gift basket for the kids in that family. In her essay she wrote that her father’s death was the hardest thing she’d experienced, but through service she found a positive outlet for her grief,” he recalls.
First Cleveland Action Team Players
With that student and others in mind, Barfield was quick to sign up as an Action Team player for the Cleveland Action Team, which launched in September 2008. Barfield’s teammates Jamey Carroll, Ben Francisco and Ryan Garko are also Action Team players.
“I grew up in Houston,” says Barfield, “and I did volunteering with my family. There are many different ways to help. I talk with the Action Team Captains about how volunteering is giving of yourself. Sometimes what you do may not seem like much to you, but it can be really something to another person.”
Get in on the Action!
Now that every high school can join the Action Team, Barfield hopes more schools in the Cleveland area – and all over the country – get in on the action. “The more schools we have in the Action Team, that means more students out in the community. The more schools in the Action Team, the more we can do,” declares Barfield. “I’m excited to be part of the Action Team.”
Join Josh Barfield on the Action Team.Get an Application today and get in on the action! Help launch an Action Team in your school in September 2009.