Morgan Wallen is donating some of his resources to help a cause that he is passionate about, in his hometown of Nashville. The East Tennessee native donated $500,000, through his Morgan Wallen Foundation, to help rebuild Parkwood Community Club, a historic Black baseball and softball complex. The MLB Players Association Youth Development Foundation and other local funders partnered with Habitat for Humanity of Greater Nashville to also donate $500,000 bringing the total raised to $1 million invested into the project.
“I started the Morgan Wallen Foundation to support youth in two areas – sports and music,” Wallen says. “When I heard about Parkwood, right here in Nashville, I knew I wanted to help. Every child deserves a chance to play ball and be part of a team, and I truly appreciate this opportunity to be part of Parkwood’s next inning. I can’t wait to come back out here and see the park once it has been renovated.”
This isn’t the first generous donation Wallen made this year. After canceling or postponing several dates on his One Night At A Time World Tour, while on six weeks of vocal rest, the 30-year-old returned to performing with two back-to-back nights at Chicago’s Wrigley Field.
For the second night of Wallen’s Windy City show, he was joined by students from local high schools as he presented a check for $100,000, also from his The Morgan Wallen Foundation, for the revitalization of South Chicago’s Bessemer Park baseball field. His donation was combined with a previous $150,000 donation from Cubs Charities, which together went towards a fully upgraded diamond with a new backstop, side wings and dugouts, including extended side wings, as well as rehabilitating the playing surface for multiple levels of play.
It’s fitting that Wallen has made generous donations to help youth continue to play baseball, since being a professional baseball player was his first career choice, until an injury derailed those plans.
“My mom said I never played with toys or games or anything,” Wallen recalled to Nashville Lifestyles, “It was always music or sports. As I got a little older, sports took over, because when you’re that age it’s cooler to play sports than it is to play music. I would still listen to a lot of music and still loved it, but I didn’t take as much part in it as I did before. And then once my baseball career was over — I was supposed to play in college, got hurt — I went through a period where I was trying to figure out what I was going to do.”
“It was hard,” he continued. “I was devastated because I’d put so much time and effort into baseball. So, I started writing songs and playing guitar. It was a way to help me get my feelings out and just to keep my mind occupied and to say the things that I wanted to say. By the time I was about 19 is when I really started growing the love for music that could be my music.”
Wallen, who has reportedly shaved his famed mullet, will continue on his One Night At A Time World Tour with three shows at Boston’s Fenway Park this week. Find music and tour dates at MorganWallen.com.