The children are all students at Ss. Joachim & Anne School in Queens, N.Y.
From MLB.com:
During batting practice, the students were introduced to Yankees manager Joe Girardi, as well as club icons Derek Jeter and Jorge Posada. Then, ace pitcher CC Sabathia and Yankees director of media Jason Zillo revealed to the children what else they had in store for them after the game.
The students were once again surprised to find out they would be taking a Gray Line, double-decker sightseeing bus tour around Manhattan, with a trip to the top of the Empire State Building, where the children were given the honor of lighting the tallest building on the eastern seaboard. In addition, the bus made another stop at historic St. Patrick's Cathedral, where the students said a candlelit prayer and had dessert with Archbishop Timothy Dolan.
The children were accompanied on the bus tour by family members and teachers, as well as Sabathia, Posada, Freddy Garcia and coaches Mike Harkey and Tony Pena.
...As Manhattanites waved at the students and players, the team presented the school with a check for $10,000 and had one last surprise for the schoolchildren. Pizza was ordered for the bus, but the Yankees didn't get any old delivery boy. The man with the pizza boxes was none other than Jeter, who stayed with the tour the rest of the way.
And this from Archbishop Dolan's blog:
Last night I had the pleasure of hosting a group of young people, all displaced from Haiti following last year’s devastating earthquake, who are now students and parishioners from Saints Joachim and Anne parish in Queens Village.Read the full story HERE. Be sure to check out the great photos on the archbishop's blog by clicking HERE.
...Monsignor Ritchie, the Cathedral Rector, provided a history of the Cathedral, and told them the story of Pierre Toussaint, a former slave from Haiti, who was brought to New York and is now a candidate for sainthood! The young people visited Toussaint’s resting place in the crypt beneath the Cathedral’s high altar, lit a candle at the shrine to Our Lady of Guadalupe, and then joined me in my residence for some ice cream cake and cookies!
It was a wonderful evening, and I was pleased that Saint Patrick’s Cathedral – such a vital part of the City of New York – was able to join together with the Yankees in doing something special for these young men and women. I was just as proud that a Catholic parish, Saints Joachim and Anne in the Diocese of Brooklyn, is having such a positive impact on the lives of these young people, victims of a terrible tragedy, who are being given the opportunity for a wonderful education.
