Tagged: Cleveland Indians KeyBank High Achievers Kids Club

“Can I get your John Hancock?…It’s Herbie Hancock”

 I don’t really know too many kids that would turn down a chance to get a professional baseball player’s autograph, especially when it is free.  I guess I really don’t know too many kids at this point in my life, but reflecting back to when I was younger I know I would have jumped at the idea. 

If you are one of those types of kids…or if you are the parent of one of those types of kids, then swinging on down to the Cleveland Indians KeyBank Kids Fun Days on Sunday home games is where you ought to be. 

The Kids Fun Days take place on select Sunday home games throughout the season.  They are held just outside of Progressive Field in the Gateway Plaza and begin at 10:30am lasting through the 5th inning of the game.  Activities include a batting cage, pitching cage, gaming tent to play Playstation 3, photo booth and more! 

One of the best things about Kids Fun Days is that, if you are a High Achiever Kids Club member (see my blog entry from a couple of days ago on information for that), you can sign in at the High Achiever tent and earn a pass to attend Signature Sunday.  Each Kids Fun Day, we give out 200 passes to be able to go down under Progressive Field and get autographs from two Indians players.  This past weekend (and in the above picture courtesy of me), we had Vinnie Pestano and Jack Hannahan signing for the kids.  The guys love doing it and the kids/parents love it even more. 

So be sure to register for High Achievers and come to our next Kids Fun Day so that you can participate in our next Signature Sunday on May 15, 2011.  See you there!

FREE LUNCH!

There is no such thing as a free lunch.  That’s what all of my marketing classes used to preach in college.  That is a true statement because, no matter how you look at it, there is a cost to your lunch–even if it is given to you for “free.” Possibly, it’s a spicy lunch and that will cost you later in the day when you run to the bathroom every 10 minutes, I don’t know.   If you think you found a loophole to this statement and say there is such a thing as a free lunch, I guarantee you I will prove you wrong.  So drop it.  I’ve already won the argument.

With that being said, there is no such a thing as a free kids club either–but since it sounds better saying that it is free, we are going to call it a free club.  The only cost to you is your time filling out a registration form and submittal form, as well as your time doing great in school so you can get rewarded with prizes. 

I’m talking about the Cleveland Indians KeyBank High Achievers Kids Club, which is a free (just go with it) club for kids in grades K-8.  By performing well in school, members get special rewards including tickets to select Indians home games, chances to meet players, attend batting practice and participate in Signature Sundays on Kids Fun Days and much more.  Here is a quick review of how the program works:

  • Go to www.indians.com/highachievers to register for the club.  You are then sent a membership card, which you will use for redeeming for prizes and for use at Kids Fun Days. 
  • As a registered member you are eligible to submit your grades, attendance records and three (3) books that you have read over the course of a semester (1st semester=Quarters 1 and 2 and Trimester 1, 2nd semester=Quarters 3 and 4 and Trimesters 2 and 3).
  • You will receive one STAR per category with a maximum of 3 STARS per semester (6 STARS total for the year).  If you maintain A’s/B’s for the semester, you get a STAR.  If you have perfect attendance for the semester, you get a STAR and if you read at least 3 books for the semester, you get another STAR.
  • After the grades/reading/attendance is submitted online, qualified members get an email with how many STARS were earned.  You then go to a local Team Shop to redeem for  prizes.  The prize breakdown is:
    • One Star – Two (2) Indians game tickets and entry into raffle to win Batting Practice Experience for four (4) people
    • Two Stars – Two (2) Indians game tickets
    • Three Stars –Two (2) Indians game tickets and High Achievers Kids Club prize
    • Four Stars –Two (2) Indians game tickets
    • Five Stars – Two (2) Indians game tickets and High Achievers Kids Club Tee Shirt
    • Six Stars – Four (4) Indians game tickets and submission for one (1) of the following Raffle Prizes: Grady Sizemore Autographed Baseball Bat, Batting Practice Experience for Four (4) People, Meet-and-Greet with Grady Sizemore for Two (2) People

So there it is folks.  The KeyBank High Achievers Kids Club in a nutshell.  For more information, feel free to email highachievers@indians.com or go to the website at www.indians.com/highachievers to register today and start earning STARS to get free tickets to Indians games!  And before you even say it, I realize I called them “free tickets” even though it will cost you time and gas to go to the game.  Just sign up!

A little bit of this, a little bit of that…

  I can’t say that nothing has been going on since my last entry, because we have been swamped with things going on.  To start, I recently returned from our Spring Training facility in Goodyear, Arizona.  I was there for about a week for our yearly signing day.  This is a day where our all of our front office autographed needs are fulfilled.  We have the players come in early before their workouts and have them sign.  And sign.  And sign.  All in all, we had about 4,000 items ranging from baseballs to photos, jerseys and bats get autographed and then authenticated.  All in a shade under 3 hours.  Not bad.

The majority of the items are used for our in-kind donation requests that come from local charities across the state of Ohio.  If you are having a fundraiser, feel free to submit by going to www.indians.com and clicking on the “community” tab.  While we try to respond favorably to all requests, there are some that we just can not fulfill based on our guidelines.

 What else has been going on?  Our Cleveland Indians KeyBank High Achievers Kids Club (yes, it is a mouthful, but totally worth it) just finished the 1st semester of submittals.  For those that don’t know, this is a free program for kids ages K-8th grade.  They have two opportunities to submit their grades, attendance and reading forms–once for the 1st semester and once for the 2nd semester.  They earn STARS based on maintaining A’s and B’s, getting perfect attendance, and reading 3 books per semester.  They can then redeem the STARS for prizes at the Team Shops (free game tickets, posters, chances to win meet-and-greets, etc.)  For more information on that, go to www.indians.com/highachievers or shoot me a comment and I’ll get you more info.

 
This Wednesday, we’ll be taking our Indians in the Community program out to the Boys and Girls Club (Broadway Club), where we’ll be hanging out with the kids from 3:00pm to 6:00pm.  I’ll have more on that Wednesday night/Thursday morning.

That should cover everything that I wanted to cover.  Stay tuned later this week for more information!

Please Allow Me to (Re)Introduce Myself…

Greetings All!

This blog has been asleep for quite some time now and, even when it was alive and kicking, it was updated only every so often.  My plan (and goal) is to change that with constant updates throughout the 2011 season.  And by constant updates, I mean whenever I get some new information to blog about. 

For those of you who are just reading this for the first time ever, allow me to introduce myself.  My name is Justin and I am the Coordinator of Community Outreach for the Cleveland Indians.  The purpose of this blog will be to keep you informed on everything that the Cleveland Indians do “Off the Field.”  We have an incredible outreach program and this blog will help get the word out on everything we have a hand in, from our Cleveland Indians KeyBank High Achievers Kids Club, to our Fill the House for Charity program and even into some Cleveland Indians Charities events that we put on as fundraisers.

I’m going to throw this out there right now (and you can pick it up if you want to) that I was in no way an English major in college.  When you read this blog, you will probably find numerous mistakes in my grammar and punctuation.  I especially love commas.  If you love writing and see that I am butchering it, feel free to comment; however, I can’t promise I will do anything about it.  My goal is to simply spread the news on what the Cleveland Indians do in the community. 

I think for the first entry of 2011, this is long enough.  Please stay tuned and check back often and I promise you won’t be disappointed.