PHILADELPHIA (CBS) — A celebrity softball game was held Saturday in support of a Delaware County man struggling with health issues. He is still recovering from a stroke two years ago.
Former major league baseball players put their skills to the test on a softball field and all for a good cause.
The game raised money for Jeff Scott, 65, of Havertown, who suffered a stroke just a week after his double knee replacement.
“Any time you can help a family and a community, that’s going to be important and it’s just a really tragic situation where you’re just, you know, you go to the hospital to get new knees and you come out of it with stroke,” Philadelphia Phillies ambassador Mickey Morandini said.
The stroke initially left Scott unable to walk, talk or even swallow.
He has made a lot of progress in the past two years but he cannot work and half of his body is paralyzed. So he and his daughters rely on his wife’s earnings to get by.
“We know a lot of families have bigger challenges than us,” his wife Xenia Scott said. “That’s why when John Durso with Homers for Hope asked if they could help us, we said no twice until we finally said yes.”
Ancient @MLB players put their skills to the test today for a good cause. The softball game they played at FDR Park raised $30,000 for Havertown’s Jeff Scott. He suffered a stroke a week after double knee replacement surgery two years ago. pic.twitter.com/kat3Fjbg29
— Madeleine Wright (@MWrightReports) May 6, 2023
Homers for Hope is the non-profit organization that organized the softball game.
In a team, there were sponsors of this organization who had to raise funds to play. On the other side, members of the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association.
In total, the game raised $30,000 so the Scotts could renovate their home to be wheelchair accessible.
“We’re actually sending the Scotts on vacation to the coast so they can come home and not have to deal with construction dust,” Homers for Hope co-founder and president Durso said.
Many of the people who raised funds for Scott are complete strangers. He says the gesture is overwhelming.
“I have to say, I didn’t expect something like this,” Scott said. “It makes you love your neighbor, I must say.”
A community that comes together to support a family as they adjust to their new normal.
