Drayer: Mariners OF Braden Bishop has big plans to grow his 4MOM charity
Apr 30, 2020, 12:09 PM
Mariners outfielder Braden Bishop started the 4MOM charity in 2014. (Getty)
(Getty)
Like a number of Mariners players I have talked to in the last month, Braden Bishop is not encountering much boredom in the downtime that has been forced by the coronavirus shutdown. Extra minutes are utilized by finding ways to learn more about an assortment of of subjects, taking what he called a “deep dive” each week into an item of interest.
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The research is nothing new for the Mariners outfielder, his prowess in seeking out knowledge honed in the many hours he spent searching for information on the disease that took his mother’s life last fall, Alzheimers.
The information gathering initially was for personal and family use. So many questions, so few answers, but every possibility of an answer led to a path that needed to be investigated. At some point it occurred to Bishop these investigations and experiences needed to be shared as they could be helpful to others and with that realization, the 4MOM charity was born.
“It’s been an absolute journey from the actual circumstances of why it started and going through that, then at the same time advocating for a cause that is not talked about and needs more advocates,” he said from his home in California (press play in the video embedded below to go straight to my interview with Bishop).
Like many new charities, 4MOM started small – fundraisers to raise awareness, T-shirts, bracelets, and the social media #Hits4ALS hashtag in spring training three years ago where major and minor leaguers joined the cause by donating for each spring hit. With each activity, Bishop found he wanted to do more.
“In charity in general you have these super small campaigns, charities, foundations and you are fighting really big causes,” he said. “At first for me it was, I want to raise awareness because my family is going through it, we’re struggling. This is where we are struggling. This is how we are struggling. Kind of like the experience and trying to share our experience so people who are just starting to go through it or are going through it, we might be able to provide some answers.”
Bishop now finds that he and 4MOM are at a different place in the journey that he has chosen to continue. His personal experience with the disease sadly has ended, but the battle against the disease and the efforts to raise awareness remain a passion.
“We’ve built something that we feel is sustainable now, something that we can keep pushing to the next level,” he said. “It’s just crazy to see where you have an idea, which was 2014 for me. You stayed persistent to keep trying to push a really heavy ball up a hill.”
In order to continue the path upward, Bishop has realized that 4MOM must grow. That led to research into philanthropies and studying what the best charities were doing or how they were pushing the ball forward.
“Are they kind of forcing the issue? Are they cold-calling fundraising? What does it look like? he asked. “For us, I don’t like that cold-call fundraise; I would much rather create relationships and have people feel like they are included in our mission and our cause. If they want to help that’s when they would step in and do that. I view it differently. But in order to reach more people and cast your hand on a bigger region you need money and in order to cure something like Alzheimers, which is going to take a miracle, you need money. It takes fundraising, it takes big events. That’s where we have switched our strategy a little bit. Now we want to start to press the issue where our events are bigger. We are stepping out and being a little vulnerable and uncomfortable in how we do our events.”
The new events go well beyond T-shirts and bracelets. Thursday morning Bishop announced his newest endeavor.
Do you like coffee? I do! I’ve been working on a little passion project and started a coffee company. We got our beans from South America and they are smooth. Go check us out @CognitionCoffee. Pre orders on our website now!https://t.co/KT7zGR3NCp
— Braden Bishop (@bradenbishop7) April 29, 2020
Cognition Coffee is one passion project. The others will be coming up starting with the Care4Mom Conference next January.
“Our first conference will be in San Francisco,” said Bishop. “It will be a whole day thing. Maria Shriver, Robin Williams’ wife (Williams suffered from Lewy Body Dementia which is related to Alzheimers disease), basically offering a service to families who are going through what mine did who have no answers. Hopefully we can have some answers. It’s free to everybody who wants to come.”
The conference will end a fall and a winter that hopefully will not be sidetracked by the COVID-19 pandemic (Bishop acknowledged that they have plans B and C always in the the works) that will include an awareness-raising tour that has been planned. On this subject, Bishop’s voice raises with passion and the thought process comes out rapid fire.
“It came to me, I want to do a tour,” said Bishop. “I want to go around the country and share our story. I want to film it, we need to make a documentary. We need people to know.”
The story, personal.
“Through the past year we have been working on it. A big part on my mom and who she was before. I always tell people she was this certain way, you love her and then you have to say goodbye to that and then you learn to love this new person and care for this new person and then you have got to say goodbye to them, so it’s almost like this double-edged sword that you are saying goodbye to two people you love. Obviously my brother (Giants minor leaguer Hunter Bishop) and my story coming through and building this.”
The plan is to take the tour across the country through San Francisco, Dallas, Phoenix and Washington, D.C., with small events and Alzheimers walks in each city. In D.C., Bishop hopes to meet with members of congress to tell the story and help push legislation forward, with everything to be filmed and released in a documentary next March.
“It’s exciting stuff, I am just constantly thinking,” he said. “It’s just crazy when you have a thought and then you have a persistent action and then all of a sudden now we have five team members,” he said with a laugh, “my brother is more involved now. we are going on tour, sharing the story on platforms like Netflix. I wouldn’t have pictured that in 2014 at all.”
Make no mistake, baseball has not been put on the back burner for Bishop, who made his MLB debut with the Mariners in 2019. The work continues and the persistence that drives Bishop to push 4MOM forward is also on display in his pursuit to better himself on the field as well. It is an incredible balance that he displayed through the most trying and unimaginable times. While for some it might have been easier to close the door and just focus on baseball once his mother’s battle with the disease end, Bishop’s focus remains outward as he continues to make a difference for others.
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