The July 9th Sunday New York Times featured a letter by SCAN’s Executive Director, Lew Zuchman, which was written in response to a recent article entitled “Yankees Charity Neglects Stadium’s Neighbors”.

Lew’s letter provided an opportunity to highlight one of SCAN’s most consistent supporters of our programming in the South Bronx.

Below is the text of Lew’s letter.

The article to which his letter responds is here.

To the Sports Editor:

Re “Yankees Charity Neglects Stadium’s Neighbors,” June 28: As an ongoing grant recipient of the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund, I immediately focused attention on this article. The nonprofit organization I run, the Supportive Children’s Advocacy Network, better known as SCAN New York, has literally existed as a Yankees neighbor for more than three decades. Over this period, the Yankees have truly been a good neighbor. SCAN has received grants from the New York Yankees Foundation as well.

However, support from the team has transcended these financial contributions. The Yankees have made significant in-kind donations to SCAN’s Mullaly Academy Recreation Center (a Department of Parks facility), which immediately adjoins Yankee Stadium. The support has included donating all of the physical fitness center equipment from the old Yankee Stadium to our Mullaly center, the restoration of its basketball court, sponsorship of annual SCAN Mullaly Thanksgiving dinners and the contribution of Yankees tickets to SCAN-sponsored after-school programs (e.g. Public School 42, P.S. 114), all of which were within walking distance of Yankee Stadium.

The process that SCAN has gone through to receive funding from the New Yankee Stadium Community Benefits Fund has included our annual response to a request for proposal, not unlike a request for proposal from city government. It is unfortunate that this Times article indirectly besmirches the Yankees.

As a former die-hard Brooklyn Dodgers fan, I have often found it ironic that one of SCAN’s most significant supporters at our SCAN Mullaly Academy, has been, in fact, the Yankees. Each year, SCAN’s fondest neighbor enriches the lives of literally hundreds of SCAN young people in the South Bronx. For this, we owe the New York Yankees a hearty “Gracias.”

Lew Zuchman
Manhattan