In the early 2000s, Michael Connelly ’82 and his son were walking in downtown San Francisco when a homeless man approached, asking for help. Connelly grabbed his son, wished the person a good day, and went quickly on his way. Back at the hotel room, his son reminded his father what he’d instilled about helping others. Returning to Boston, Connelly went to his checking account and his son tapped into his piggy bank and donated to a San Francisco homeless shelter. It was a moment that would become far-reaching and meaningful.
A few years later, at a fundraising dinner for the first iteration of Connelly’s charity endeavors, a college roommate in attendance had heard that the funds raised that night would be allocated to help a Vietnam veteran with terminal cancer to go back home and die in his bed. In hospital, the vet’s utilities had been shut off and so the charity would pay to have them turned on so the man could spend his last days in comfort in his home. The roommate mentioned to Connelly that he loved the idea of providing swift and immediate help. That roommate was Steve Alperin who would become one of the original founders of what came out of that conversation. In 2017, the Boston Bullpen Project was born.
“Because we’re baseball fans,” explains Connelly speaking of himself and the three other founders. “We come out of the bullpen to provide relief to those in need.”
By the end of the year, the project’s giving history will be at around $2MM in grants, helping some 6,300 people with 80 social service partners on board. But what does help look like and for whom?
“We try not to interpret our own vision of what a crisis is,” says Connelly. “It can be a number of different things: providing a fish tank for a veteran with PTSD; therapy sessions for survivors of Holocaust; we paid for 31 funerals; we get moving vans to houses of victims of domestic abuse, so they can clear out their property immediately.”
And immediately is the M.O. for this charity. As soon as the email from one of their social service partners arrives, Connelly and the other founders give the request the green light within 24 to 48 hours. But here’s the kicker, whomever they help the Boston Bullpen Project gives a pay-it-forward card. It’s a card the recipient receives to give to someone who might also be in need. Since most people hate to ask for a hand-out, the card can empower the next person to get out of trouble and back on a stable path. But paying it forward doesn’t stop there.
The program has around 20 youth ambassadors. Of which, Connelly’s son is one. The goal is for the young ambassadors to take over and continue the work that has already changed so many lives. Pondering these achievements, Connelly says that what shaped him into a person who acts on behalf of those in need came from both his home environment and his days at CM.
“I think Catholic Memorial gave me a foundation to continue to see the value in making a better community,” he says. “It was more than academics at CM, which I really treasured. The teachers we had, the administration we had could be summed up as ‘community’ and ‘decency’.”
And Connelly, along with the charity he helped found is quick to act on those values…really quick.
