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The Travis Roy Foundation will wind down operations next April
In honor of its work, the Red Sox are hosting a Wiffle Ball tournament for selected members of the public at Fenway Park.
The Travis Roy Foundation announced Friday that they plan to wind down operations early next year. The charity, established in 1996, was dedicated to funding research and providing grants for those dealing with paralysis from spinal cord injuries.
With the recent death of the founder, former Boston University hockey player Travis Roy, in 2020, the foundation will cease its operations and “[wind] down its active fundraising programs after April 2022,” a press release said. Roy had previously requested that the Foundation cease its operations after his death.
To honor and celebrate the Foundation and its work, the Red Sox are hosting a Wiffle Ball game at Fenway for selected members of the public.
From the 20th and final Travis Roy Foundation Wiffle Ball tournament, which will take place Aug. 13 to 15 in Vermont, two out of the 32 teams who fundraise more than their previous total will get a chance to play in Fenway. There will also be two winners from the online auction that will be allowed to form a team of nine people to play in the park.
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“We are so grateful to the Red Sox and their fans,” said Arthur B. Page, chair of the Travis Roy Foundation Board of Trustees in a press release. “You have been MVPs in the background and on the front lines. With your support, we’ll knock it out of the park during this final Wiffle Ball tournament.”
The Foundation hopes to raise $1 million through the Wiffle Ball tournament.
Roy began this foundation after he himself was paralyzed in an ice hockey accident during college. Since its establishment, it has raised money to fund Quality of Life grants that help buy equipment for paraplegics and quadriplegics, as well as over $5.6 million toward research on solving paralysis-related issues.
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Following the closing of its operations, the trustees of the Travis Roy Foundation will seek other ways to continue supporting paralyzed individuals of spinal cord injuries.
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