To the On Deck Family,

It was November of 2002 and I was on my way to work at a boy's foster facility. On my way, I past by the middle school where some of my boys played on the school football team. I stopped and watched a while, until I saw something that would change my life forever. It was small but it meant so much more. As I watched, I saw about 50 kids out there involved in this flag football game with three of them being my boys. I noticed that one of my boys didn't have any cleats. I found the other two and noticed the same thing. As I looked around, they were the only boys without cleats! How can you expect an A+ grade, with D- materials?! I realized at that point that I had seen enough over the previous two years with these boys and it was time to changed things up for them. If cleats were just a phone call away, what else was just a phone call away?

For two years prior to that point, I had the privilege of working with the boys for the first time at Mckinley Children's Center in San Dimas, CA. At that time I was still involved in professional baseball and like I had done a thousand times before, I went up to the local high school to workout on the field. This time was different! Across the street from the high school, there had always been this facility but I never knew what it was. Actually, I never took the time to find out. There ended up being only one space left to park and it happened to be right in front of this facility. As I pulled in, a new sign caught my eye. It said,"Mckinley Children's Center." Up until that point, I had done some clinics for kids, coached high school football and had done some private lessons. I saw the sign and then thought maybe I can play catch with some of these kids or maybe take them to the batting cages. I walked into the office and explained to the receptionist my intentions and she replied, "I'm sorry, but these are protected kids." What did that mean? Needless to say, after a month-long background check, I had my first day with the boys. With the help of many great individuals and residential counselors, we basically woke the boys up and put them to bed with everything in between. These kids are amazing and some of the bravest humans I have ever met. The one thing they all have in common is bad luck. It's not their fault they are there. Remember, they are still kids. Foster facilities and group homes are NOT juvenile detention centers!

The facility, which is one of many, is set up to house about 90 boys ranging in age from 5-17 years old. Children are in facilities like these due to circumstances they couldn't control. The foster system has no face and does not discriminate. It consists of children of both male and female, of all races and religions. There are the healthy and the sick, and the strong and the afraid. The majority of them have experienced abuse in one form or another. If you believe that you are living in an accidental world, you then start to believe you are an accident. Is it their fault? Why should they trust anybody?

We've all heard the story about the tree falling in the woods with no one around, does it make a sound? Well, when a child scores the game-winning goal, hits his or her first home run, wins a writing or art contest or even graduates from anything, with no one around, did it really happen?

The system and these facilities do what they can for these children, but it is not enough. These children need voices. Awareness is our biggest goal along with opportunity for these kids. Somewhere among these children are some of our next presidents, Nobel Prize winners, Heisman Trophy winners, etc. We want them to have an opportunity to say no. That just means that at least they had the chance to say yes!

I am very honored to be associated with the people making the On Deck Foundation a vehicle for awareness and hope for these children. Tonight, kids are laying their heads on state issued beds, without criminal behavior. With your help, we intend to make a difference in the lives of these children. Some of these children go to bed not knowing what tomorrow will bring. It's gotten so bad for some that they don't care about tomorrow. It's time to show them what IS possible. It could have been any one of us, we somehow dodged the bad luck arrow! Is it their fault?

Underprivileged and at-risk youth extend outside the foster systems walls. The On Deck Foundation has been set up to address and make aware the needs, as best to the foundation's ability, of these youth of all fundamental levels. They are all still just children.

Thank you to everyone involved thus far and for those to come!

Brett P. Pierce