RAVENSWOOD — Chicago Cubs manager Joe Maddon is looking for neighborhoods where he can expand his charity work.
Maddon hosted a youth boxing event to raise money for Crushers Club, an Englewood-based organization that seeks to keep kids out of gangs by teaching them about respect, discipline, love and ownership through boxing. The Wednesday night boxing event in Ravenswood featured a $300 price tag per person and silent auctions.
The boxing event was the first of more to come, Maddon said, and he's waiting for neighborhood groups to come to him and the Cubs.
"Once we find out the interest level, we'll go from there," Maddon said.
Jaye Maddon, Joe's wife, said she's met with the leaders of the Crushers Club and was able to learn about what they do. Their work is going to expand, she said.
"They're really doing some great work" at the Crushers Club, Jaye Maddon said. "You've got the physical fitness part of it, boxing, and you've got the arts, and on top of that [Sally Hazelgrove, the club's founder] cultivates an environment that commands respect for each other and working together and just staying in school, getting good grades ... the kids are really responding to her."
Jaye Maddon also spoke with kids from the Crushers Club and was able to hear them sing original songs.
"They talked a lot about [how] before they came to Crushers Club, they were in the dark," Jaye Maddon said. "And then once they came in and were accepted and embraced by Sally [Hazelgrove, the club's founder], now they're in the light. That's their whole mindset, going from the darkness into the light."
The couple's work will "definitely" expand to other neighborhoods, Jaye Maddon said.
The Maddons' next charity project is as soon as Thursday morning: Jaye Maddon will host a "spoxing" fitness class, combining spinning and boxing, under the Wrigley Field marquee at Gate F. There are sessions at 10 a.m., 11 a.m., 2 p.m. and 3 p.m.
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