Worcester Red Sox Holiday Care-A-Van Brings Three Days of Giving Across the City

By-Hank Stolz

Photo-Radio Worcester

WORCESTER, MA- Worcester Red Sox President Dr. Charles Steinberg was joined by members of the club’s community relations team — Emerson White, Katie Siegle, and Becky Maher on the Worcester Red Sox Show to reflect on the team’s annual Holiday Care-A-Van, a three-day outreach effort that brought players, staff, and mascots to 19 locations across Central Massachusetts.

The Holiday Care-A-Van is one of the organization’s largest community initiatives of the year, combining gift delivery, hands-on volunteering, and time spent directly with people served by local nonprofits, schools, and healthcare providers.

Stops on this year’s Care-A-Van included serving meals at St. John’s Food for the Poor, delivering toys and mascot plushies to children at UMass Memorial and Pernet Family Health, and playing basketball with teens at the YMCA. The team also hosted a holiday party for the boys at Nazareth Home, creating what Steinberg described as meaningful moments that go well beyond a single day of giving.

Steinberg explained that the WooSox community outreach philosophy traces back to mentor Larry Lucchino, who instilled a simple but powerful guiding principle: say yes in some way to any accredited nonprofit in the region. That mindset continues to shape how the organization approaches its role in the community.

The discussion also highlighted the WooSox Scholars program, which awards $10,000 scholarships to selected local eighth-grade students and supports them throughout their high school careers. As part of the Holiday Care-A-Van, the community relations team visited scholars at their high schools, reinforcing the long-term commitment behind the program.