Brittney and I attended the latest FPRA (Florida Public Relations Association) Luncheon, the topic was “How Choosing the Right Community Partners Can Help Your Business Grow”. The speaker was Rachelle Madrigal, the Manager of Sales & Marketing for the Pittsburgh Pirates and Bradenton Marauders. Rachelle was a great speaker: she got up, gave her speech, answered questions, all without a distracting Powerpoint presentation. She went into great detail about the different “Community Partners” that the Pirates and the Marauders have lasting relationships with and how the teams give back to the community. A great example is the Pirate’s Community Commitment Program requiring all players to commit to 10 hours of community service each season, this includes both the major and minor league players. They also partner with organizations such as The Boys & Girls Club and The United Way. The Pirates/Marauders will also be investing $8 million to renovate McKechnie Field and are dedicated to revitalizing the downtown Bradenton area with new shops, night life, and additional parking.
I’m not a sports fan, but I knew there were major league baseball teams that trained in the area, however, I did not realize that we had a minor league baseball team. Now that I’ve been made aware of this and that the team goes to great lengths to give back to the community, I will make it a point to go to one of their games just to say thank you and to show my support for their good efforts.
Lee Towle is a graphic design student at State College of Florida in Manatee County. She will be completing his degree in May 2012.