Meet the Ruiz brothers – all five of them.

by | May 14, 2021 | 0 comments

Meet the Ruiz brothers. They range in age from 6 to 20 years old – and between the five of them, they’ve logged collective decades in DREAM’s programs. Oldest brother Alex Jr. describes the day that the youngest Ruiz became a part of the DREAM family – as a newborn, his parents brought him directly from the hospital to his older brother’s baseball game.

Their DREAM journey began when longtime employee Judy Padilla told their mom about a local program that was then called Harlem RBI. “My mom was like, You’re going,” recalls Alex, who’s now a third-year Legend at Skidmore College.

At the time, RBI was an afterschool and summer baseball league – but the Ruiz boys are quick to assert that it meant so much more than sports. “It gave me my first set of friends,” Alex says. “It was a guiding force. Without RBI, I would have been lost.”

His brother Blaise, now a senior in high school, agrees, describing how baseball taught him to be a team player, even working his way up to become captain of his team. “It took me from selfish to selfless,” he says. Now, years later, DREAM staff helped him with his college and financial aid applications, just as they did with his older brother.

“It was a guiding force. Without RBI, I would have been lost.”

Alex Ruiz Jr., third-year Legend at Skidmore College

This sort of generational change takes stamina and community support. It requires a willingness to evolve and a passion for serving each generation’s unique needs. Collectively, this work represents the harvest of seeds sown into the ground thirty years ago on the abandoned lot that would become the Field of Dreams. And now, as DREAM builds new schools and welcomes new families, we’re setting the stage for impact that will be felt for generations to come.

After all – 15 years ago, Alex and Blaise were little kids on the field for the first time, and this summer, they’ll be coaching their own REAL Kids teams at DREAM. Because at DREAM, our young people recognize the importance of coming back and paying it forward for their community, just like others did for them when they were program participants. Alex calls that “seeing both sides of the coin.”

That’s what is possible when we dream together. When a community is powered by its people – when every member has a stake in its success – that’s what has kept DREAM standing for 30 years. That’s time enough to bear witness to the power of playing the long game – the game we only win when we play together, stand together, dream together.

 

<a href="https://blog.wearedream.org/author/liz_white/" target="_self">DREAM</a>

DREAM

DREAM started in 1991 as Harlem RBI, a volunteer-run Little League for 75 kids in East Harlem. Three decades later, the organization serves 2,500 youth across East Harlem and the South Bronx through a growing network of inclusive, extended-day, extended-year charter schools and community sports-based youth development programs. By developing an education model that is responsive to the unique academic and social needs of every child, DREAM is creating a future where all children are equipped to fulfill their vision of success.

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