Harford Family House and area business leaders go to bat for the homeless

Harford Family House held its 12th Annual Home Runs for the Homeless event July 28, sponsored by Harford Mutual Insurance, at Ripken Stadium. This year’s event was the largest ever with 32 teams. In spite of the pandemic, this event was highly successful.

Batters, volunteers, staff and attendees wore masks when required. All who entered the stadium filled out a health screening and signed waivers.

“This is an extremely hard time for Harford Family House since many of our fundraising events have not been able to happen,” Robin Tomechko, CEO of Harford Family House said. “Being able to have Home Runs for the Homeless outdoors has been wonderful and the community has really rallied to support us.”

There were many highlights during the day as well as a few “firsts.” For the first time, a Harford Family House team was sponsored by Brian Walker, Regional Vice President of Grand Rounds and event committee member. One of the batters included Ready by 21 client, Robert G.

Maryland Mutual Mortgage returned to the top of the pack with a score of 2,350 points. The event had a new Corporate Award winner, Harkins Builders, with 1010 points. This award is given to the team where all four players work at the same company. The Aberdeen Police Department took home the Officer’s Cup once again with 1,320 points and their star for the day, Will Reiber, won The Mark Logsdon Award with 580 points including three home runs. The Georgia Peach award, given to the female batter with the highest point total, was given to newcomer, Erin Muir, from the Harford Bank all-female team. Erin attended CCBC Catonsville and was a JUCO All-American before transferring to Stevenson University. She took home the award with 300 points.

The Golden Arm Award was won by a landslide by Mike Hughes of the Maryland Mutual Team, with 30 points. In this competition, one fires as many balls as possible at a target to see how many points can be accumulated in 20 seconds. Although Mike has supported the cause for many years with the Maryland Mutual Team, this was the first time he earned this trophy.

For the second year in a row, teams were able to raise additional funds for Harford Family House virtually. This year, teams were able to add their batting points to their fundraising points in order to compete for the Virtual Cup Award. This year’s winner was Scott Elliott of Harford Bank with a total of 9,966 points.

The final award is given to the individual with the highest overall point total in the event. For the second year in a row, the Silver Slugger Award went to Alex Barker with 840 points and six home runs. Alex currently plays baseball for Monmouth University.

Harford Family House thanks the sponsors, teams, volunteers, including a large group from Volunteen, and the event committee as well as the Ripken Baseball staff for another successful event. Thanks also to the President of Harford Mutual, Steve Linkous, for throwing out the first pitch, Allison Redman, Miss Maryland, for her beautiful rendition of our National Anthem and Pete Gilbert WBAL TV 11 for his news coverage of the event and for emceeing the Facebook LIVE wrap up. A very special thanks to the event’s Presenting Sponsor, Harford Mutual Insurance and the Grand Slam Sponsor, the Aberdeen Ironbirds.

For more information about Harford Family House, their events or to get involved with Home Runs for the Homeless, call 410-273-6700 or visit www.harfordfamilyhouse.org.