10 in 10: Span starts his own foundation to help single-parent families

From the time they arrived from Montreal before the 2005 season, the Nationals have been a mainstay in the Washington, D.C., sports scene. But the Nats are also very active in the community, working diligently over the past decade to touch the lives of many in the region and proving that baseball has a further reach than wins and losses, balls and strikes, batters and pitchers. Each Thursday through mid-August, MASNsports.com's Byron Kerr will explore the Nationals' community outreach efforts, showing how far their reach has extended and how deeply committed to Washington, D.C., and the surrounding area the Nationals are.

Nationals center fielder Denard Span always wanted to give back to his community. He came upon an idea of how to help while participating in a teammate's charitable event while with the Minnesota Twins.

"(in) 2010, I did it with Orlando Hudson, he was my teammate," Span said. "He let me tag along. It was really through his foundation, but he wanted me to tag along just so I could see how it ran. In the following year, he moved on to San Diego and I ran the event on my own. I did it in 2011 and 2012."

Span, however, wanted his own cause. He knew from growing up in a single-parent household along with his brother how hard his mother worked each day and night to ensure they had a roof over their heads and food on the table.

"I saw my mom go to work every day," Span said. "I saw her struggle to make a way for my brother and I. I saw her try get us to and from practice, to and from church, just do the full responsibility - both duties as a mother and try to be a father, which obviously she couldn't do that fully.

"When I was a kid, I didn't understand the weight she had on her shoulders. I don't have any of my kids of my own, but I understand now because I am an adult I see just how difficult it is to raise kids. That's where my passion comes from as far as starting my foundation. I just wanted to do something near and dear to my heart, something I could relate to."

When Span arrived with the Nationals, he reached into the community to start helping single parent families in the area.

"In 2013, when I got here I started Span's Fans, where once a month I invite about 20 families, single-parent families, to the game and I'd talk to them," Span said. "Just give those families one day forgetting about whatever it is they're going through and give them the opportunity to come out here and enjoy a major league ball game. Something I never got a chance to do."

Span went out on his own at the end of the 2014 season, introducing the Denard Span Foundation with the mission "to provide hope and encouragement to single parents while empowering them to raise confident children within strong families and better communities."

"I just started my foundation this past offseason," Span said. "I finally stepped out on faith, and it's time for me to spread my wings and do this on a bigger scale and show the world just how difficult it is for single-parent families to just get ahead and get through the struggle.

"I think that's the biggest thing, realizing that you are not on your own. Even though my mom raised my brother and I, she had help. We had other families that helped us, helped my mom get through the struggle. That's all we're doing here is trying to show these families that they're not alone."

His work in the area has included a special Christmas celebration during which the foundation gave gifts to 10 families who had written an essay telling their stories.

"It was just a beautiful event," Span said. "When the event was over with, I had a couple of parents in tears because the gifts that I gave them and their kids. That was their Christmas. If I didn't do what I did, they wouldn't have had a Christmas at all. It was just a lot of gratitude and a lot of thanksgiving on that day."

Last week, Span served as a celebrity barista to raise money for the foundation while at Peet's Coffee on 17th Street, N.W. in Washington, D.C. During the event, Peet's donated a $2,500 check to the foundation.

Upcoming events include the first Denard Span Foundation Back to School Bash on Saturday Aug. 8 in Washington, D.C. Span will host a Thanksgiving dinner giveaway celebration and a Christmas celebration in his offseason home of Tampa, as well as a skills camp there in January.

For more information, click on the Denard Span Foundation, click here.

Miss any of the previous installments of "10 in 10" detailing the Nationals' community outreach efforts? Here is the list to date:

June 11 - Dream Foundation builds off success to introduce new initiative
June 18 - Nationals look to improve D.C. Little Leagues with new uniforms, equipment and fields
June 25 - Diabetes Care Complex critical to Dream Foundation mission
July 2 - ziMS Foundation has raised more than $1 million for MS research