ATLANTA — Matt Olson led the Majors in each house runs and RBIs this previous season. However those that have been launched to the bond he has constructed with Reece Blankenship know his worth and contributions prolong far past the baseball subject.
Blankenship has non-speaking autism. However this didn’t forestall him from expressing his imaginative and prescient to create ReClif, a neighborhood heart that strives to assist its autistic purchasers thrive bodily and intellectually through bodily and psychological actions.
Olson befriended Blankenship whereas he was in highschool. In 2017, whereas he was nonetheless taking part in within the A’s Minor League system, he pledged $5,000 to the GoFundMe account Blankenship created to construct ReClif. This system and contributions have considerably grown over time that adopted.
Olson was definitely feeling appreciative on Friday night time, when he and his spouse, Nicole, teamed up with the Braves Basis to host the ReClif Neighborhood’s second annual Diamond On line casino Night time. Patrons stuffed the stadium’s Delta Membership to play card and desk video games aimed towards elevating cash for this charity Atlanta’s first baseman proudly helps.
“Reese’s complete factor is attempting to broaden the community and open some eyes to extra folks about autism,” Olson stated. “I really feel just like the extra folks we are able to get into these items, the place you present a enjoyable occasion, decide up some information and get some donations, it’s a great factor.”
Max Fried, Spencer Strider, Ozzie Albies, Sean Murphy, A.J. Minter, Charlie Culberson and Jeff Francoeur had been among the many present and former Braves who had been current throughout this 12 months’s black-tie event. Final 12 months’s occasion raised $250,000 and there’s hope the 2024 complete will proceed to extend as extra folks change into higher conscious of the trigger.
Olson was a sophomore at suburban Atlanta’s Parkview Excessive Faculty when he started spending time with Blankenship, who was a number of years youthful. They swam, hiked, performed ball, coloured and handed the time collectively. On the time, medical doctors believed Blankenship had a 3-year-old’s mind.
A number of years later, Blankenship shocked his household when he started utilizing a letterboard to precise his ideas. This led to work on a keyboard, the place he conveyed his imaginative and prescient to construct a remedy and health heart for autistic people.
ReClif opened in suburban Atlanta’s Peachtree Corners in 2018. The middle offers remedy choices that embrace customized train courses, therapeutic yoga, spelling-to-communicate teaching, specialised studying seminars and different choices.
“That is actually a step-back second,” Olson stated. “I nonetheless consider working with Reese after I was a sophomore in highschool, being down in his basement studying him flash playing cards. It’s been all him to get ReClif and ReClif Neighborhood so far, the place we are able to do occasions like this.”