SportsFOX 17 Blitz

Actions

Jeter’s foundation donates $3.2M for Kalamazoo ballfields

Posted at 9:25 AM, Jul 26, 2019
and last updated 2019-07-26 09:25:10-04

KALAMAZOO, Mich. (AP) — A charitable organization founded by former New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter is donating about $3.2 million to renovate a baseball and softball complex at his Michigan high school.

The Kalamazoo Public Schools district announced the donation Thursday from the Turn 2 Foundation. Planned work includes new fields, seating and dugouts as well as synthetic turf. The Kalamazoo Gazette reports school officials say the project is scheduled to be completed in 2021.

Jeter, who is the Miami Marlins CEO, says in a statement he hopes the project “will inspire local youth to work hard to achieve their full potential and accomplish their goals.”

Jeter graduated from Kalamazoo Central High School in 1992 and the baseball field at the complex was named Derek Jeter Field in his honor in 2012.