This story was excerpted from Mark Sheldon¡¯s Reds Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

CINCINNATI -- The Reds Community Fund is poised to enter its 25th year of helping kids and neighborhoods in 2025. And with Thanksgiving here once again, there was plenty to celebrate during a robust 2024 around all parts of Greater Cincinnati.

¡°We¡¯re about four things -- baseball, softball, education and community building," said executive director Charley Frank, who has been with the RCF since 2004.

The community building effort was on display throughout the year but particularly during a two-week stretch in April, when three new synthetic playing fields were dedicated.

A two-year project of renovating baseball and softball fields in Augusta, Ky., culminated with the dedication of Augusta Distillery Field at St. Elizabeth Ball Park. A new synthetic infield was opened at Gendell Family Field inside the complex at the P&G MLB Reds Youth Academy, and the ribbon was cut for a brand-new infield at Marty Brennaman Field inside Julifs Park in Anderson Township, Ohio.

¡°It was a lot to manage, but it really speaks to our focus to partner with communities and to be a catalytic piece not just for baseball and softball but also neighborhood development," Frank said.

For the past 15 years, the RCF has also completed several community makeovers. In 2024, that was done in the Bond Hill section of Cincinnati and completed on Aug. 1. About 500 volunteers worked on upgrading six project sites.

¡°This was arguably the most exciting, ambitious and worthwhile outcome of any of our years, and they¡¯ve all been extraordinary. This one had some special layers to it," Frank said.

Underwritten partially by reliever Brent Suter, a new sustainability garden with public walking trails was created at the new Xavier Jesuit Academy. Suter and outfielder Will Benson also turned out to help with the finishing touches. Among other projects was a new synthetic field installed at Bond Hill Park and a new playground and outdoor classroom space created at Bond Hill Academy, which is a pre-K through sixth grade elementary school.

Sleep in Heavenly Peace, a charity outreach group also supported by Suter, built 33 new beds for kids in underserved Bond Hill families as well.

¡°All of the layers of the makeover this year really speak to our fourth pillar, which is community building," Frank said. "It¡¯s probably the piece of our mission that people don¡¯t necessarily grasp.¡±

As for the other three RCF pillars -- baseball, softball and education -- they had their success stories, too.

The P&G Cincinnati MLB Youth Academy celebrated its 10th anniversary last summer. An event was held in October to celebrate the facility and its many programs.

"The event really helped remind us why we got into this business," Frank said. "Some of the lives we¡¯ve been able to impact, a lot of the kids that have come to our program are back with us, either coaching or a volunteer or even a full-time capacity.

"We wanted it to be about baseball, softball and community and that one moment in time was a reminder to everyone that played a role in getting us here, that it's working.¡±

The RCF Scholars program -- which includes all 150 student athletes at the academy in Grades 9-12 -- averaged a nearly 3.2 grade-point average with a high school graduation rate of 100 percent. The scholarship totals were raised so that every student who completed their senior year received scholarship money for a university or trade school.

"This is not an optional program," Frank said. "The mission to focus on youth development -- first and foremost -- and hopefully develop major league citizens took a big step forward this year through a lot of academy initiatives."

The RCF views its outreach through the academy and public as a type of pyramid. First, start with getting as many kids interested in the game as possible. Then as the kids get older, support baseball and softball programs that make both sports accessible to kids and neighborhoods that otherwise wouldn't get to play.

"Then really, the tip of the pyramid for us is Reds-Nike RBI. It's a year-round program with about 350 kids, ages 8-18, that are using the academy year-round and for the most part, multiple times per week," Frank said.

For the youngest kids, the Reds Little Sluggers program was launched for ages 4-9 to play tee ball and coach-pitch games.

¡°Our staff that operated actually created a system for tee ball that you won for the number of outs that you were able to execute," Frank said. "[They] came up with some creative wrinkles to make it fun. It¡¯s really the first step in making baseball and softball more accessible.¡±

A collaboration with USA Baseball that was last done in 2019, Fun At-Bat had more than 26,000 kids from public schools in Cincinnati, Dayton and Louisville areas participating in programs that promote how the diamond sports work. Kids received a minimum of eight sessions of introductory baseball/softball and character messages at their schools. RCF provided a stipend to the schools so they can use it for any gym class purpose.

When it comes to the silver anniversary year of the RCF in 2025, stay tuned.

¡°We¡¯ve got some pretty cool things in store on that front, in terms of both visual marketing and programming," Frank said.