Shelton wrapped in giving spirit
Pirates manager steps into larger role with club’s charity initiatives
As a dozen or so Pirates employees perused Macy’s on Monday morning inside The Mall at Robinson, shopping for winter coats and accessories to deliver to families in need later this week, neither one of the most recognizable donors nor the neediest recipients were present.
While Pirates Charities already had matched employees with groups from nonprofit partners in Pittsburgh, Bradenton, Fla., and the Dominican Republic, it turns out there was a late addition to the lineup, the type of thing that can happen when you’re the manager.
Derek Shelton spent his first season running the Pirates ingraining himself in the community as much as he could. He wore T-shirts every day to promote local charities. His interactions with Pittsburghers were confined to daily walks around the city.
But this particular project, and Shelton’s desire to play a sizable role in it, showed the type of role he envisions playing here for years to come.
After learning about what Pirates Charities was doing for its “Ultimate Holiday Experience” gift campaign, Shelton and his wife, Alison, asked to help. They were matched with three young boys whose mother, Makeida
Thompson, was shot and killed in early November.
The Sheltons bought Christmas presents for the kids and also are paying their grandparents’ rent. As soon as the Pirates manager learned of the family’s plight, the decision was a nobrainer.
“Ali and I were wanting to help,” Shelton said. “Then after we heard the story of this family, we were more than happy to step in and try to provide a little bit of normalcy and some smiles for these three kids during the holiday season.”
The tragic event occurred Nov. 10 in East Liberty. After police responded to reports of a shooting in the 5700 block of Rippey Street around 11 a.m., Ms. Thompson — a 32-year-old juvenile probation officer — was pronounced dead at 11:11 a.m., the result of multiple gunshot wounds to the head.
Terrence Anthony Washington, 36, of Pittsburgh, was charged with homicide and firearms violations, according to the criminal complaint. Thompson had obtained a temporary Protection From Abuse order against Washington on Nov. 4. The final hearing was scheduled for 9 a.m. Nov. 12.
With no one to look after the kids — Andrew Carr Jr., Aaron Carr and Anthony Thompson, according to Thompson’s obituary — they’re now in the custody of her parents, William Thompson Sr. and Robin Payne.
“It’s important to our family to give back and help people out,” said Shelton, who has been operating out of his Treasure Island, Fla., home due to travel restrictions. “When you hear this story and hear what these little boys have had to go through, your heart breaks. You want to reach out and help in any way possible.”
Thompson was hired as a juvenile probation officer Sept. 6, 2016, and named supervisor at the Community Intensive Supervision Program in Garfield about 14 months later. At the time of her death, she was pursuing her master’s degree through Shippensburg University.
To help with expenses for the grandparents, a GoFundMe page was started by Thompson’s “Allegheny County Juvenile Probation family,” who described her as an adoring mother and someone passionate about “helping young people change the trajectory of their lives.”
Started a month ago, the page has received 190 donations totaling $12,581 of a $50,000 goal. It’s easily accessible by searching Ms. Thompson’s name at gofundme.com.
“Makeida had a heart of gold and a smile that would light up any room,” the GoFundMe page reads. “Makeida loved to learn and dedicated her life to helping others.”
That sort of mentality has governed much of what the Pirates have done this offseason, despite obvious challenges presented by COVID19.
Throughout November, Pirates Charities teamed up with fans, players, coaches and front-office staff to make a positive impact in the community through something it called “Friendsgiving,” a holiday gift campaign benefiting four local nonprofits and aiding their efforts to assist families in need this holiday season.
Whether it was delivering toys, buying clothes or providing money for miscellaneous needs, Pirates Charities distributed $55,000 with help from the Allegheny County Department of Human Services, Light of Life Rescue Mission, Urban Impact and the Salvation Army of Western Pennsylvania.
“Especially during the holiday season, this is really tough for a lot of people,” Pirates president Travis Williams said Monday. “We’re happy to be able to be a part of this and provide for those who don’t have as much during this holiday
season.”
The civic- minded approach is something Shelton has appreciated since arriving in Pittsburgh. It also seemingly has rubbed off on a younger generation of leaders within the organization.
Joel Gray, 28, and Sarah Jugovic, 26, were two of the shoppers Monday morning. Gray, a Woodland Hills and Robert Morris University graduate, seemed to take great pride in the clothes he selected, which tracks with his career thus far.
At 14, Gray penned a letter to Dan Rooney, the late Steelers owner, asking to become a ballboy. Rooney had Gray swing by for an interview with his dad, and the youngster wound up getting the job. Today, Gray is omnipresent at Pirates Charities events — always talking, always smiling.
It was no different Monday morning inside Macy’s, as Gray cracked jokes about hanging out with the Pirate Parrot, needing to do an interview next to a few racing pierogies or how accessorizing an outfit for the matriarch of a family was hardly too tall of a task.
“The social responsibility of the organization is interesting to me,” said Gray, who majored in sports management and obtained his master’s degree in data analytics from RMU. “You’re part of the community. And here, from the owner down to the people in the field, everybody wants to stay involved.”
Jugovic, a Baldwin and Chatham University graduate, has walked a similar path. Since interning with the Pirates in 2015, she has taken on various roles all geared toward helping the community. In 2018, Jugovic was named Pirates Charities coordinator.
While a typical December might involve multiple inperson events, COVID-19 has restricted this particular group to a Zoom call where they started this entire process — some dressing up in holiday attire, examining wish lists provided by families, shopping on Amazon together and having the gifts delivered to PNC Park.
Macy’s represented the final component of the process, with the clothing store donating $5,000 to make the shopping spree possible.
Later this week, they’ll take the presents, all wrapped, to their destinations; in Pittsburgh, that includes the Veteran Leadership Project, Propel Schools, Latino Community Center, Pittsburgh RBI (Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities), Josh Gibson Foundation and Thelma Lovette YMCA in the Hill District.
In addition to clothes and toys, families will receive $100 gift cards to have a holiday meal together and also tickets to future Pirates games. Jugovic and Gray will head to Thelma Lovette to deliver presents.
“I can’t wait,” Jugovic said. “We asked for little descriptions on each of the families, just to get to know them and personalize their gifts a little bit. We didn’t want to make things generic. We wanted to make it purposeful.”
Why does Jugovic love this so much?
“This has been a hard year for everyone,” she said. “We wanted to spread some holiday cheer at a time when, more than ever, we all could use it.”
Shelton, a father of three himself, couldn’t agree more. He also doesn’t care about getting credit for a really good deed, hence why he was originally OK with helping the family in private.
Only after a reporter learned about the gesture did he agree to discuss it.
“Ali and I don’t do these things for people to know about them,” Shelton said. “That’s not important. The important thing is helping people in the community. And now that it’s out there, I do hope other people will step up and help those kids.”
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NOTES — The Pirates Monday named Tony Leo assistant athletic trainer for the major league club. Leo was Oakland’s infection control prevention coordinator in 2020 and before that spent 23 seasons with Minnesota, most recently as head athletic trainer in 2018-19. ... The Pirates also invited non-roster catcher Andrew Susac to major league spring training. He was a regular on their taxi squad this past season.