Community Heroes

Honoring and Supporting Big Train Community Heroes

The Bethesda Community Base Ball Club has always been about more than baseball. Our founding mission was to improve opportunities for youth. From 1999 to 2011, we made $600,000 worth of improvements to youth baseball and softball fields from Germantown to Anacostia. When we retook stewardship of Big Train in June 2020, we partnered with the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation to honor five Community Heroes. Because COVID shut down our 2020 season, we were not able to present these heroes their Big Train jerseys with "COMMUNITY HERO" stitched above the number 21 on the back until the 2021 season. The Trawick Foundation donated $250 to each of their nonprofits.

We dedicated the 2021 Big Train season to the community heroes - the nurses, community nonprofits, first responders, doctors, grocery store clerks, and others - who worked tirelessly on the front lines during the pandemic. At each home game, we honored 25 Frontline Community Heroes with a free ticket to the game and dinner and drinks thanks to the generous support provided by the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation, The Sebrechts Family, and Melanie Folstad/RBC Wealth Management. Groups honored included Nourishing Bethesda, Manna Food, B-CC Rescue Squad, and the National Center for Children and Families. In addition, we named former U.S. Representative and Ambassador Connie Morella as a Community Hero in 2021.

Frontline Community Heroes from Nourishing Bethesda receive applause when introduced at the June 20, 2021 Big Train game.

We continued this program during the 2022 season by honoring a different nonprofit at each home game. Each nonprofit received 25 free tickets and dinner on their game night thanks to the continued generous support of the Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation, The Sebrechts Family and Luc Sebrechts/Morgan Stanley Wealth Management, and Melanie Folstad/RBC Wealth Management. See below for the full list of this season's Community Heroes.

This summer, we also honored individual Community Heroes as well, including these six nonprofit leaders:

• Haile Gebregziabher, Director of Operations, Shepherd's Table;
• Agnes Leshner, Board Member, Interfaith Works, and child advocate;
• Cara Lesser, Founder, KID Museum;
• Linda Plummer, President, Montgomery County NAACP;
• John Ross, Founder, Nourishing Bethesda; and
• Rob Scheer, Founder, Comfort Cases

Again, the Trawick Foundation is contributing $250 to each of the nonprofits represented by these individual Community Heroes.

In addition, Big Train honored philanthropist Carol Trawick and sportscaster Johnny Holliday as Big Train Community Heroes in 2022.

Philanthropist Carol Trawick receives her Big Train "COMMUNITY HERO" jersey from Big Train president and founder Bruce Adams on June 7, 2022.

2022 Big Train Community Heroes of the Night

• June 4:      League of Women Voters, St. Raphael School, and Dreams for Kids DC
• June 5:      Miracle League
• June 7:      KEEN, Individual Community Hero - Carol Trawick
• June 9:      Comfort Cases, Individual Community Hero: Rob Scheer
• June 11:    Nourishing Bethesda, Individual Community Hero: John Ross
• June 12:    NAACP, Individual Community Hero: Linda Plummer
• June 14:    TLC - Treatment and Learning Centers and Bradley Hills Village
• June 16:    Leveling the Playing Field and Open Door Sports
• June 18:    Bethesda Historical Society
• June 19:    Don Bosco Cristo Rey High School & Corporate Work Study Program
• June 25:    Habitat for Humanity Metro Maryland
• June 29:    Special Olympics and KID Museum, Individual Community Hero: Cara Lesser
• June 30:    P-Flag
• July 2:       Empowering the Ages and Barker Adoption
• July 3:       American Legion Post 86
• July 6:       Montgomery History
• July 7:       Jewish Council for the Aging
• July 9:       Shepherd's Table, Individual Community Hero: Haile Gebregziabher
• July 13:     Cornerstone Montgomery
• July 15:     A Wider Circle
• July 16:     Court Watch and Conflict Resolution Center
• July 18:     Interfaith Works, Individual Community Hero: Agnes Leshner
• July 21:     Manna Food and Integrated Living Opportunities
• July 22:     Parkinson Foundation and Friends Club, Individual Community Hero: Johnny Holliday

2023 Big Train Community Heroes of the Night

Nonprofit organizations interested in being selected as Community Heroes of the Night for the 2023 Big Train season should email Big Train founder Bruce Adams at bruce@greaterwash.org.

2021 Big Train Community Heroes of the Night

The Jim and Carol Trawick Foundation contributed $250 to each of these organizations in 2021, and we urge you to support our Big Train Community Heroes listed below with links for learning about and making contributions to their organizations:

• Mark Bergel, Founder and Executive Director of A Wider Circle. A Wider Circle works to create stable homes by providing beds, tables, dressers, and other basic needs items. Full Big Train Community Hero Interview.
• Sheryl Brissett Chapman, Executive Director of The National Center for Children and Families. NCCF supports the most vulnerable children and families in our community. Full Big Train Community Hero Interview.
• Jackie DeCarlo, CEO of the Manna Food Center. Manna is actively meeting the national food emergency right here in Montgomery County. Full Big Train Community Hero Interview.
• Randy Schools, our Big Train Booster Club Chair for two decades helped establish The Children’s Inn at NIH. The Children’s Inn meets the needs of children and families participating in ground- breaking research at NIH. Full Big Train Community Hero Interview.
• Teresa Rios Wright, a career Montgomery County Public Schools teacher and Board Member Emeritus of Identity. Identity is serving Latino youth and families especially impacted by the health pandemic. Full Big Train Community Hero Interview.

All five of these wonderful leaders and their organizations deserve our support every year.