By Steve Bradley
Luke Hoag and his family traveled to Hudson Valley Community College last Thursday to receive an award for being chosen as a Tri-City ValleyCats Community Services Award winner. Luke was chosen, along with eight others, for the baseball team’s Starting Nine, an award for people who helped other people in any sort of need. One of the other award winners was New York State trooper Jason Dutcher, who saved a person from certain death in a fire.
Luke was chosen for raising thousands of dollars for a Macy’s program that raises funds for the Make-A-Wish Foundation. When he was younger, Make-A-Wish made Luke’s dream of visiting Disney World come true. Luke decided he wanted to help other children’s dreams come true. He asked people to send him letters he could turn in to Macy’s and things just took off. Luke began receiving letters from everywhere. In 2017, Luke’s efforts raised $88,000 on Macy’s Believe Day, where the retailer donates $2 for every letter it receives.
Luke and his family stayed and enjoyed watching the ValleyCats defeat the Brooklyn Cyclones, 7-3, after the presentation.
Congratulations on a well deserved award, Luke.