Retired Mariners announcer Rick Rizzs leads holiday toy drive

You know him as the longtime voice of the Seattle Mariners. And after retiring less than two months ago, Rick Rizz remains as busy as ever fundraising. For local families, Rick has been stepping up to the plate for local families since 1995 with his Toys for Kids Foundation, delivering holiday cheer to tens of thousands of homeless and underserved children across Washington. So Rick sat down with Claire Anderson to talk about the upcoming Winter Gala and his foundation that makes the holidays bright for kids in need. I love this foundation. It's so cool. For decades, Mariners fans have known Rick Rizz as the iconic voice of summer. But now that baseball season is wrapped up, he's trading the broadcast booth for a sled. For more than 30 years, Rick has been dedicated to making sure the holidays don't pass by local kids in need through his non-profit. Well, we just continue to get bigger and bigger, raise more and more money, we're working more charities, Fast forward to last year, and you're going to the gala this year with your husband, and we raised just over a million dollars last year. We now work with 37 different homeless agencies in King County and around the state and we bought toys for over 25,000 kids last year. This year we're going to award 15 $5,000 Dave Henderson scholarships. And over the last 11 years, Claire, we awarded 95 $5,000 college scholarships. Wow. Then we also started a backpack program for kids that needed, you know, things to get to school to be up to date with the other kids going to classes and starting school. And Rick's Locker we started last year. So we buy kids a brand new glove and a brand new bat, uniform, pants and belt to play Little League Baseball. Just go out in the sandlot like I did growing up in Chicago. What kind of feedback have you gotten from the community or from different people and organizations that receive these gifts? You know, I'm glad you asked that question because, you know, we do make an impact, you know, in the community by so many toys for so many kids who really need it and the moms. But the impact that showed me what we were doing was a number of years ago, a kid came up to me, he's 20 years old, and he said, Mr. Rizz, he says, you don't remember who I am, but 15 years ago. My mom and I were staying at the Broadview Women's Shelter. They were homeless, and the shelter took them in and gave them a chance and hope and a new life. He said, I just want to thank you. I got a football, and that was the best Christmas present I ever got. And it really made an impact on his life, you know. And it shows that, you know, what you're doing really has an impact on so many kids. And it's not just a toy, but it represents hope for these kids and their moms that they can, you know, have a chance at a better life. Is there a way that people can donate or if they want to give money back or help in some way, how can they do that? Yeah, we're always looking for donations and to help out because there's such a need. in our community and everything. So thank you for asking that. All you got to do is go to our website, which is tfkseattle.org. Toys for Kids, tfkseattle.org. And there's a way to donate and the money will go in the pot to help out, you know, with toys during the holiday season, the backpacks, the scholarships, and Rick's locker. And so we appreciate anything that the community does and it'll go a long, long way. Toys for Kids was able to gift over 50,000 children a brand new toy for the holiday season, and they are hoping to help even more this year. The Winter Gala is this weekend, which is their main fundraising event, but it is sold out, which is great. But you can also go to tfkseattle.org to donate. We also put a link on our website, fox13seattle.com. You know, we're used to these big toy drives and physical toys. How does Toys for Kids actually work, though? I thought this was really cool because, you know, you're used to seeing these big buckets of toys. They gather all the money and then they allot it to the agency so then they can go in and they work with Amazon and they can actually buy what the kids are looking for and then it ships right to the agencies without having to do all the in-between. Yeah, and you can tell that Rick, you know, he got emotional there in his interview. It means so much to him. You can tell that he's doing some good work. And I understand that this gala, it's not just what you talked about, but there's other things that they read. Yes, I think this is so important. It's not only just toys. They do scholarships for college funds. They do the backpacks for back to school. I love they say to Rick's locker. So sports equipment because that gets expensive, too. And they also do stuffed toys for kids at the hospital. So there's so many great things that you can donate to. And again, you can go to the website and donate right there. Are you going and emceeing? Are you donating something? I'm going and I'm being a part of it. I also donated a tour of the... Fox 13 Studios to meet me, to look behind the scenes weather. So I'm really excited. And Rick is going to get some big bucks for that. Yeah, and Rick is just the nicest guy, and I think he's more than just baseball. There you go. He is. Thanks, Claire.