New Name – Same Mission
Blizzard Foundation now dubbed JP4 Foundation
St. Paul, Minn. – The renaming of a small and successful non-profit organization traditionally doesn’t send strong emotions and excitement through the lives of young athletes, but Johnny Price IV was far from your traditional young person. A stand-out baseball player, Price was even more well known for being an incredible teammate and person than he was as a top-ranked college baseball recruit out of Minnesota.
“We’ve always held Johnny up as both the central reason for the creation of the foundation,” Barta said. “and as the example of what is possible when talented players are also great people.”
“We started the original foundation because we felt a responsibility to empower athletes to be outstanding citizens,” said Adam Barta, the JP4 Foundation Chairman. “And I wanted to ensure that finances would not be an insurmountable obstacle for families to play baseball. Baseball provides so many life lessons including culture, a sense of family, being a good teammate, accountability, loyalty and so much more. Those are life skills that shouldn’t be impacted by finances.”
Price’s life was cut short in an automobile accident in December of 2015, but his positive impact on countless lives has certainly continued. The foundation that now bears his name is a perfect example of Price’s current influence.
“As a player and person, Johnny made me want to be an even better coach – made me want to push furtherthe positive impact baseball could have in offering life lessons to young people,” said Barta. “His actions and words continue to guide and lead us today, so renaming our foundation in his honor is more motivation than marketing.”
“Our foundation’s heartbeat, mission, and vision will stay exactly the same as we change our name,” said Jeff Huth, Executive Director of the JP4 Foundation. “Life enrichment and development for the young people stays at the forefront, and baseball continues to be a vehicle we use to carry out our efforts.”
Since the foundation’s onset, over 500 families have been helped access baseball, young people have performed more than 2,500 hours of community service, and nine scholarships have been granted to students to help in the cost of college.
“We have done a great deal of positive things for the community in the last few years, but the summer-long camps at Battle Creek Middle School and North Minneapolis stand out to me,” said Huth. “We are able to meet underserved youth in our community where they are at – enriching lives, teaching life lessons, and building relationships while playing the game of baseball.”
Additionally, the foundation has been able to provide nutritional meals for camp participants who, in many cases, do not have access to regular, healthy meals.
“In 2018 we started with one summer-long camp in Saint Paul. In 2019, we will continue that camp but also expand to North Minneapolis. We want to continue adding summer-long camps each year until we can impact the Greater Minnesota Area,” Huth said. “The partnership between our foundation and corporate sponsors like Twin Cities Orthopedics and Cargill is something we feel we can successfully replicate.”
For more information on the JP4 Foundation, visit JP4Foundation.org