Jemile Weeks taking changes in stride

SARASOTA, Fla.— In early December, Jemile Weeks' baseball career was thrown upside down.

He was traded away from the only organization he had ever known, the Oakland Athletics, and sent to the Orioles for one of the franchise's most popular players, closer Jim Johnson, in what was immediately deemed a salary dump.

Although the 27-year-old second baseman viewed it as a new opportunity, the external pressure was once again descending on Weeks, a 2008 first-rounder who grew up playing in, and around, the shadow of his All-Star big brother, Rickie.

But Weeks didn't have time to get caught up in the hoopla; he was too busy trying to figure out how to feed 1,000 people and how he could borrow a bounce house or two.

"That was the gist of where my mind was," said Weeks, who is competing for the Orioles' starting second base job, but likely will begin the season at Triple-A. "I knew about the trade, but I already know how media and other interactions work, so I really don't pay attention to it. I tend to stay busy."

A month before the deal, his offseason schedule got particularly complicated when he announced at a periodic family meeting — yes, two pro ballplayers and a community-relations professional sister still have occasional family meetings with their parents — that he wanted to host a community event for charity near where he grew up in Orlando, Fla.

Never mind that Weeks had never attempted such an event or that Christmas was a month away. That was what he wanted to do. And so it was going to happen.

"With my own hands, I reached out to people I know and my sister did, along with my mom's church," Weeks said. "I just phoned friends. I got the bounce houses and the food, pizzas and ice cream, and asked for live performances from people I knew."

Simple as that.

On Dec. 21, Weeks and his newly formed non-profit organization, WeFam LLC, hosted "Christmas on the Boulevard" at a high school in Eatonville, Fla., which is known as the oldest black municipality in the United States.

Weeks was expecting about 400 to 700 people for the free, community-building event that featured face painters, an inspirational rapper, dance demonstrations and presentation poet Shawn Welcome.

More than 1,000 people attended, and Weeks and his volunteers — who included his brother and other Orlando-area professional athletes — fed them all. They also gave out more than 700 toys to children.

"It's just something I wanted to do for the community back home," Weeks said.

It's not unusual for athletes to give back to their communities. But it is fairly rare for someone who isn't yet established in a sport to attempt to make such an impact — and do it single-handedly, without fanfare. And accomplish it so quickly.

Orioles shortstop J.J. Hardy, for one, wasn't surprised by the gesture. Hardy was part of a double-play tandem with Weeks' brother in Milwaukee for years.

"It's just that kind of family," Hardy said. "It's the way Rickie is and I'm just getting to know Jemile a little bit, but the way he is too. The family is just a great family."

Weeks' father, Richard Sr., spent parts of two decades working for a food bank in Orlando before switching gears to operate collegiate and youth baseball programs. Weeks' mother owned a cleaning company when her kids were young, but she is now a full-time pastor in Orlando. The couple divorced when Weeks was a pre-teen, but the parents raised their children together, stressing faith, family and community.

"My mom and dad always instilled in us that we don't forget where we come from, no matter how high you get in your career or how successful you become," said Kaisha Weeks, the family's middle child, who was a track star at Southern and is now a communications-public relations specialist.

All three of the Weekses' children helped out at the food bank where their father worked. Weeks was about seven when he first understood the importance of giving back. But his sister said he really was hit with that spirit a few years ago — around when he debuted with the A's in 2011.

That was a whirlwind season for Weeks.


(baltimoresun.com)