Billy Butler has definitely done his part to give back to the greater Kansas City area, helping charitable causes and starting his own around the region to help those less fortunate than himself along with his family. For those efforts, Butler was recently recognized by receiving the 47th Hutch Award for recognition among MLB players for community service.
"I have learned from my charity back in Kansas City that there are many people who cannot afford to buy even a can of corn," Butler said. "My family has been very blessed, and Katie and I feel very strongly that we teach our daughter to give back."
From the Royals press release, "Butler's strength of spirit and his family's work with the needy families of Kansas City has placed him in rarified air. The Hutch Award, a national honor presented yearly by the Seattle-based Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, has been given annually since 1965 in honor of Major League player and manager Fred Hutchinson, who died of cancer a year earlier at the age of 45, and its list of honorees reads like a Hall of Fame roster.
"The Butlers' path to the Hutch Award has been an admirable one. In 2008, Billy and Katie started the Hit-It-A-Ton campaign to help feed the hungry in the Kansas City area through the Bishop Sullivan Center. Through the program, $250 (the cost to purchase a ton of food) has been donated for each home run Butler hits as well as $125 for each double. Through its first three years, the Hit-It-A-Ton campaign, with help from corporate sponsors, has raised more than $215,000 and provided more than 960 tons of food for those in need"