Local Charities Benefit From McGwire

Mark McGwire is a man of his word.

Sixteen months ago, McGwire tearfully told a television audience about his ambitious plan to help abused children. He pledged $1 million annually for three years to help those too small to defend themselves.

This week, McGwire cut the first four checks from his own account. Two St. Louis charities and two more in Southern California will get $175,000 each from the Mark McGwire Foundation for Children.

“God gave me the ability to make people happy and help them out,” McGwire told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

“This is the start of something I plan to be involved with for a long time to come.”

The charities in St. Louis are the Evangelical Children’s Home and the Family Resource Center. The foundation chose The Stuart House and the Children’s Institute International as the two California agencies it will support this year.

All four centers specialize in treating child abuse.

Since he announced the start of the foundation in September 1997, McGwire said people have stopped him across the country to share painful personal stories.