St. Cloud Rox Raise Record Amount for Local Charities

(KNSI) – The St. Cloud Rox raised a record $109,500 for central Minnesota charities this season. The Rox Project S.A.V.E. Foundation raised nearly $90,000 this season. The foundation began in 2019 to support youth programs in sports, arts, volunteerism, and education initiatives across central Minnesota.

The foundation has created one of the largest scholarship programs in the region for high school senior students, donating $10,000 to help fund five future college students.

Project S.A.V.E. also rolled out a pilot program in partnership with the St. Cloud Area School District 742 that provided 367 students in the 3rd, 4th, and 5th-grade classrooms at Oak Hill Community School with a free reading book for six months as part of a new RBI Club encouraging students to Read Books Independently away from school.

The foundation invested $10,000 in Grant funding for ARISE (A Recreational Inclusion Support Endeavor) program that provides support for children with disabilities in many central Minnesota cities so they can take part in sports programs alongside their peers. The foundation also donated to Habitat For Humanity to help buy construction supplies for St. Cloud Tech High School students to complete an upper-level build for a Habitat home.

In 2021, Wells Corporation in Albany picked out the foundation to manage their inaugural sporting clays company outing in Little Falls. The event raised just over $38,000 for Project S.A.V.E.

The foundation also hosted the St. Cloud City Firefighters at a Rox home game in June that raised close to $15,000 as a benefit for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation and MnFIRE, a statewide advocacy organization that equips area Firefighters with resources to address the growing health issues in the Minnesota fire service community.

The Rox partnered with CDI and Advantage 1 Insurance Agency to host two jersey auctions that raised over $8,100 to support local Veterans at Eagle’s Healing Nest and the American Cancer Society during the season.

In partnership with the Northwood League Foundation, the Rox continued the “Share the Glove” program in 2021. Eden Valley-Watkins Community Education was awarded the youth equipment grant, which provided softball equipment worth more than $2,000, including catcher’s gear, gloves, helmets, bats, and baseballs.

The Rox also partnered with Capital One to raise $3,450 for YMCA youth programming through the K’s for Kids promotion, where $10 was donated for every strikeout a Rox pitcher recorded during home games.

Since the Rox inaugural season in 2012, over $350,000 has been raised through various events, including silent auctions, fundraiser events, and in-game promotions, which have helped support over 150 Central Minnesota organizations in need.

The Rox will open their eleventh season of Northwoods League baseball in 2022.

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