Fallon Health, the Worcester-based provider of health insurance and health care services, has teamed up with the Worcester WooSox to commit to “Strike Out Hunger” and focus on equitable access to food in the City of Worcester.

Since Fallon Health became a founding partner of the Worcester WooSox, the organization wanted to work to make an impact with the baseball team to fight food insecurity within the local community.

“When we teamed up we had lots of ideas of what we wanted to accomplish together, and food insecurity really stuck out,” said Melissa Randall, corporate communications manager. “It’s been a key focus area for our organization, Fallon Health, for quite some time. We knew we could do some really great collaborative work with the WooSox.”

Every time a WooSox pitcher strikes out a member of the visiting team at Polar Park during the 2021 season, Fallon Health has been contributing $50 to the Worcester County Food Bank, with a guaranteed commitment of $50,000. 

“With more than 40 years of dedicated service to the Worcester community, we are proud to use this opportunity to support our mission of making our communities healthy,” President and CEO Richard Burke said in a press release. “In particular, we are excited to work with the WooSox to promote the many health benefits of sports. Together, we can have a positive impact on people of all ages, health statuses, and backgrounds.”

In addition to the presentation of a check to the Worcester County Food Bank for $50,000 at the WooSox game on September 11, Fallon Health hosted a food drive with the WooSox at the gates to Polar Park. Ticket holders were asked to bring a canned good or non-perishable item as they entered Polar Park. 

“The food drive was a really great experience,” Randall said. “It’s really cool. We heard from the WooSox on Monday that some of the folks on Sunday wanted to give back as well, so they donated more food.”

More than 460 pounds of food were donated to the Worcester County Food Bank over the two days.

“We are honored to partner with Fallon Health yet again on a community initiative,” WooSox President Charles Steinberg said in a press release. “Our ballclub and our WooSox Foundation have focused on food distribution all year, dating back to those cold mornings in January, and we are so pleased to work with Richard Burke and his outstanding team to take efforts even higher to ensure that the children and adults in our community have food — and the reassurance that they will not go hungry.”

Feeding America estimates that nearly 90,000 people in Worcester County are food insecure. Roughly ten percent of people in the City of Worcester are hungry, and 20 percent of kids are food insecure as well. 

Randall said that every three years Fallon Health and its partners do a community-wide survey to see what the needs are. She said one major issue that keeps coming up is food insecurity.

“Hunger and health, they’re deeply connected,” Randall said. “When communities have access to food, we all benefit…We all need to step up to the plate to help people so they know there’s going to be food on the table.”

Randall said that Fallon Health is focused on providing resources to those communities that need it most. She added that with the pandemic, there is a lot more need — especially with people who may not have experienced the need before.

“We believe that the Strike Out Hunger campaign is really making a difference in people’s lives,” Randall said, “and maybe even more importantly, helping to raise awareness about this issue with people who didn’t know it was an issue.”

Fallon Health became the first corporate sponsor of the team in 2018. The organization is also represented at the ballpark through Fallon Health Square, which is the primary entrance located at the corner of Plymouth and Summit Streets, as well as Fallon Family Funday Sundays, which promotes healthy behavior at Sunday home games with family friendly activities like catching in the outfield and running of the bases.