Despite hitting nearly 40 home runs and being an integral part of a New York Mets team that clinched a playoff berth for the first time since 2016, one of first baseman Peter Alonso’s most impressive feats has come off the diamond.
Alonso and his wife Haley started the Alonso Foundation in 2020, following the all-star’s first full season in Queens. Citing a warm reception from Mets fans and so many New Yorkers, the two said they established a foundation to create change on a global and local scale, recently donating to a pair of North Shore-based organizations.
The foundation recently made a $20,020.20 donation to Tuesday’s Children, a nonprofit organization based in Manhasset aiding families who lost relatives in the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, military service or other acts of mass violence. The donation was made in late August during the foundation’s annual comedy night.
Alonso, in a statement, lauded the work of the organization that expanded its aid to families who have lost service members in any capacity, not just from the Sept. 11 attacks.
“Tuesday’s Children has provided critical and ongoing support to the kids that lost loved ones on 9/11 throughout their lives,” Alonso said. “They have also improved the lives of families that have suffered losses due to military service as well as the more recent impact of mass shooting traumas here at home. They are a perfect example of an organization that is doing so much on behalf of the groups we feel so connected to and whom we aim to support through the Alonso Foundation.”
A $10,000 donation was also recently made to North Shore Animal League America, a Port Washington-based no-kill animal rescue and adoption agency that partners with 2,000 shelters throughout the nation and the world. The donation to the animal league meant a great deal to Alonso and Haley on a personal level, she said in a statement, because they have a dog of their own.
“The North Shore Animal League rescues thousands of pets a year,” she said. “We own adopted pets and know firsthand how impactful and beneficial these animals can be in the lives of families. Our foundation is here to stand up for those who can’t, and the support we can provide to abandoned and sheltered animals goes a long way to improving our community.”
The foundation centers around three main pillars of giving, which include aiding veterans, children, and animal support. Foundation officials said while expanding their donation efforts to other organizations not directly associated with the three pillars could be a possibility, Alonso and Haley always want to keep those three groups the main priority for providing any kind of aid.
Having other individuals lead efforts to support local and global organizations and projects centered around any of the three groups, they said, is also a goal of the foundation so that more and more people feel inclined to do more throughout their communities.
