Flowers then thought hard about where to make the donations, and he ultimately selected the families of two World Trade Center victims who were life-long fans of the Steelers. Many other players contribute on their own, making hospital visits to Children's Hospital downtown, holding golf charity events, hosting holiday dinners in homeless shelters and ministries and holding silent sports auctions to benefit many other local charities. The outpouring of support from just one team and its players is a vast help to the community, but Pittsburgh is fourtunate to have two other generous professional teams as well. Not to be out-contributed by the Steelers organization, the Pirates baseball team and the Penguins hockey team also contribute to the good of the community. The Pirates, for one, consider contribution just as important as throwing strikes and hitting home runs. Throughout the year, Pirates players, broadcasters, alumni and staff align with many non-profit and civic groups throughout the region to offer community aid. Their contributions and charitable events are many, and include participation in Race for the Cure, the Roberto Clemente Memorial Golf Classic, youth baseball clinics, and offering Pirates team mascots for free 1-hour appearances at non-profit funcitons. The major contributing force in the Pirates clubhouse, however, is the Pirates Wives organization, which holds events such as the Pirates Wives Auction and Raffle, with proceeds benefiting the West Penn Hospital Summer Camp for Burned Children, a retreat that provides the camping experience, in many cases, for the first time, to children whose lives have been affected by burns. The Wives also assemble 100 gift baskets of personal care items for each month of the baseball season to donate to the Greater Pittsburgh Women's Center and Shelter, supply needy children with warm weather gear, and coordinate charity functions such as toy drives, memorabilia auctions and charity fashion shows.
