Striking Up Dreams: 2024 Charity Baseball Game

The Dream Factory of Brooklyn hit it out of the park this weekend at our annual charity baseball game. 

In partnership with the Brooklyn Cyclones, we gathered over 100 supporters to watch our home team face off against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws at Maimonides Park. At our table overlooking the field, generous baseball fans stopped to spin the wheel and donate to our cause

The game’s manager? A six-year-old dreamer, Zymeer. 

Zymeer was three years old when he was diagnosed with severe autism. Since then, his family has worked hard to support him, with resources from occupational and speech therapy to counseling. His mother, Heaven, has leaned on services from the New York State Office for People with Developmental Disabilities. She’s enrolled Zymeer in an applied behavior analysis program. 

 

Still, Heaven says, caring for Zymeer — along with his siblings, Zion and Zamira — can be challenging. She learned about the Dream Factory of Brooklyn from a social worker at Zymeer’s doctor’s office. Shortly after Heaven applied, she got an email from the Dream Factory team, telling her that Zymeer would get his wish: a family trip to Disney World. 

 

Zymeer’s wish had been denied by other wish-granting foundations, whose funding doesn’t support children with chronic illness or developmental disabilities. “We’d been talking about going to Disney World,” Heaven told us. “I kept saying next year, next year, and it never happened. There are so many places he wants to go, and I don’t have the money to take him.”

 

We asked Heaven what the Dream Factory’s support has meant for their family. “Everything,” she said. “I have help. I don’t have to do this all by myself.”

As the game manager, Zymeer threw the first pitch to open the game. He talked to the crowd from the sound booth and sang “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” at the seventh-inning stretch. At the end of the game, he and Zion sprinted around the bases. When the Cyclones told Zymeer he’d be going to Disney World, the crowd erupted in cheers. 

The day was just as exciting at the Dream Factory table. 150 people stopped to donate, spin the wheel, and take home a souvenir. For many of them, witnessing Zymeer get his wish was the best part of the game. 

 

We’re grateful to the Brooklyn Cyclones for their partnership, and all of our donors for their support. As a fully volunteer-powered organization, every one of those dollars helps critically ill children’s dreams come true. That’s a home run for all of us.

 

Inspired to create magical moments for the children who need it most? Join our community of volunteers or donate today