UCHealth to donate $5,000 to Next Chapter each time Rockies score a ‘Hit the Mitt’ home run

Aurora, Colo. (April 3, 2024) – Opening day at Coors Field is just around the corner, and each time a Colorado Rockies’ ball lands on the “Hit the Mitt” banner in left field or makes it into the left-field tunnel, it will be both a celebratory home run for the team and a score for a program that serves Colorado veterans. 

UCHealth will make a $5,000 donation via the Colorado Rockies Foundation to Next Chapter, a program that provides comprehensive behavioral health and psychosocial support services to veterans and their families, whenever either type of home run is hit. 

The health system selects a new beneficiary for the home run “Hit the Mitt” challenge each year, choosing organizations that help Coloradans in need. This is the seventh season for the “Hit the Mitt” program. 

“Next Chapter is grateful to be this year’s ‘Hit the Mitt’ beneficiary and thankful for the opportunity to further the conversation about veteran suicide and remove barriers to accessing care,” said Damian McCabe, director of behavioral health and military affairs at UCHealth who also leads the Next Chapter collaborative and is a veteran himself. 

“We have identified tremendous gaps in psychosocial support to Colorado veterans that prevent them from accessing the critical behavioral health care they need,” McCabe said. “The partners we work with every day will directly benefit from the generosity of this program and will fill these gaps with emergency housing, food support, employment support and access to primary and specialty care - enabling us to recognize and treat the lasting effects of our veterans’ service and to support their families at the same time. All of this work will reduce the record veteran suicide rates in our state and support our enduring commitment to our veterans.” 

The Next Chapter program launched in 2022 and in less than two years has already served more than 875 veterans and family members – far exceeding initial projections. The original goal for the program was to serve up to 700 people in the first three years. 

“We’re thrilled to partner with an organization doing so much to provide crucial, much-needed services to our veterans,” said Manny Rodriguez, chief marketing, experience & customer officer for UCHealth. “’Hit the Mitt’ is one of many ways UCHealth partners with the Colorado Rockies to connect with our communities, and with 79 home games on the schedule, we’re excited to see how many times players can score a donation for Next Chapter. UCHealth is a strong supporter of military personnel, military families and veterans. We are pleased to give back to those who have served our country.” 

Past beneficiaries of “Hit the Mitt” have included the American Cancer Society, Food for Thought Denver, Feeding Colorado and the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.