The Yankees’ HOPE Week stands for Helping Others Persevere and Excel, but the word “hope” itself is what the 10 Haitian children honored yesterday cherish most.
Without basic hope, no amount of free baseball tickets or tours of Manhattan would make a difference.
It’s hope that allows the kids, ages 7 through 13, to dream of returning to their earthquake-ravaged homeland and building a prosperous life for themselves and their countrymen.
“They have this wonderful memory to think about now instead of constantly dwelling on what happened in Haiti,” said Linda Freebes, principal of Ss. Joachim & Anne School in Queens Village, which took in the students in the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake that devastated their country.
The refugees honored lost loved ones, including one child who lost both parents. The school itself also was touched by the disaster. The mentor of the Rev. Jean-Moise Delva, the school’s parochial vicar, was killed in the quake.
Yesterday provided a wonderful distraction from the hardships the refugees face. The Yankees play host to the youngsters at the Stadium for the series finale against the Mariners before taking them on a Gray Line New York double-decker bus tour of Manhattan that included stops at the Empire State Building, Times Square and St. Patrick’s Cathedral.
CC Sabathia, Jorge Posada, Freddy Garcia and coaches Tony Pena and Mike Harkey joined the youngsters for the tour, which wasn’t a typical sightseeing adventure. The Yankees pulled some strings.
The students participated in the ceremonial lighting of the Empire State Building before visiting the observation deck. And the final stop, at St. Patrick’s, included a tour of the cathedral with Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
In between, the bus stopped in Times Square, and Derek Jeter came out of Famous Famiglia with several pizzas for the kids, most of whom spoke no English before coming to New York.
“It was amazing,” said 9-year-old Frantz Blues.
The kids weren’t the only ones enthralled by the day’s events.
“Knowing what these kids have been through the last year and a half, to be able to hang out with them [is a thrill],” Sabathia said. “Plus, I’d never been on a double-decker bus. It’s pretty cool.”