VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. — The sounds of baseball. Virginia Beach kids play on PONY Baseball's Kempsville and Great Neck teams in the Champions Division, which allows kids with special needs to take the field and enjoy America's favorite pastime.
On Sunday, they faced off in a championship game News 3 broadcasted live on our sister station WGNT. Right before the matchup got underway, I surprised our newest Everyday Hero with help from Kempsville Champions' assistant coach Juli Shipp.
"Absolutely," she told me. "No one more deserving than the one you're about to talk about."
Shipp is talking about a key supporter of the Champions Division: Craig Colucci.
"Craig means the world to us on so many levels," Shipp said.
For example, back in Februar, on the opening day of Kempsville PONY Baseball, Colucci handed out brand-new baseball gloves to all the players in the champion's division. That's on top of buying brand-new uniforms for the team.
Watch previous Everyday Hero: Chesapeake police officer recognized for act of kindness
Shipp is so grateful.
"He does so much for the league in general but mostly for the Champions," she said. "He's very near and dear to our hearts. He sacrifices so much of his own time for us and we just appreciate him. And on a personal note, he's also a Men Wear Pink ambassador for the American Cancer Society which is very near to me."
For those reasons and more, we presented a News 3 Everyday Hero award to Colucci along with a $300 Visa gift card from our community partner Southern Bank. To further demonstrate his giving spirit— he quickly donated to the Kempsville PONY Baseball Champions.
Colucci, a 20-year army veteran, who completed tours in Afghanistan and Iraq is also raising awareness about veteran suicides.
"I guess mental health for veterans, for a lot of people, is something we really have to take a look at," he said.
Last year Colucci—who also owns D-BAT, a baseball and softball training facility in Virginia Beach—organized a fundraiser.
"We, the team, have a veterans hit-a-thon," he said. "Last year we raised $20,000. This year the goal is to raise $45,000."
If you want to help Colucci achieve that goal in this year's hit-a-thon, click here.
