DARRYL STRAWBERRY – Overcoming Opioids – Frank Shelton Ministries

It is my honor to host and bring my friend, Darryl Strawberry to Charles County, MD on May 13, 2020! Darryl is one of the greatest Major League Baseball players of all time and he played for the New York Yankees, NY Mets & Los Angeles Dodgers respectfully. He won FOUR World Series and EIGHT time All-Star and 1988 home run champion and could crush a fastball but was almost killed when cocaine threw him a curve. He went from the pinnacle of his profession to prison and lost his marriage, multi-million dollar contract and more! However, that is not the end to his incredible story and Darryl will be sharing a night of HOPE in Southern Maryland.

Over the years, I have been blessed to speak coast to coast and half way around the world and a few stops in between and when we formed Frank Shelton GLOBAL (non-profit) I knew in my heart that our first official event shouldn’t be Los Angeles or London but locally and Waldorf (my hometown) would be the venue. I am so thankful for our board members, friends and leaders in our community desiring to unite and have a dialogue about this dreaded dilemma and I don’t know anyone more qualified with such a magnetic appeal that Darryl. On March 6, 2020 we have over 20 local leaders meeting at a luncheon spreading the word about the big event and I have personally invited police, politicians, pastors and most importantly people with a desire to see others succeed. My two decade career on Capitol Hill helped me realize that drugs is a bi-partisan problem and in ministry I have officiated funerals and helped bury teens who overdosed. Parents should not have to bury their children and I met a family that buried three of four children to drugs. Absolutely heartbreaking! We must find a way to do better and Darryl found his way and together we all will turn the corner and realize that we live low when choosing to get “high.” We are inviting a support group of parents whom have children addicted and we are rolling out the red carpet for them to find help and healing. We are encouraging students and their parents to attend and hoping coaches will bring their players to not only meet a baseball living legend but learn from his mistakes so they won’t repeat them. Darryl is back to hitting home runs now that he is 17 years clean and life is sweeter when off opioids and he addresses audiences across America how others can find freedom. Plus, he has his own ministry helping others get off drugs. #GameChanger

Darryl invited me in January of this year to be his guest and was the keynote at the Mayor of Ocean City, MD prayer breakfast and he literally “HIT THE BALL OUT OF THE PARK!” Last month, I was invited to help lead chapel at the world’s most iconic sports venue – MADISON SQUARE GARDEN for the NBA New York Knicks vs Orlando Magic and it was a treat to reunite with Darryl at the game. We both are so excited to bring him to my hometown and this is a family friendly event. The late, Meadowlark Lemon of the Harlem Globetrotters was a dear friend. I had the honor to write the foreword to his book and he was a Basketball icon and Hall of Fame inductee. He told me two things that I will never forget, “Frank – one of the highlights of my career was playing basketball at the Garden. Most folks have never watched a game or concert much less played ball at Madison Square Garden so what I decided when retiring from the team was to bring ‘the Garden’ to people in smaller towns across America.” When I asked him where his favorite town was he replied with that million dollar smile and said, “When I am in YOUR town.” We are thrilled to bring the major leagues to our hometown. Waldorf will never be the same!

The event will be FREE and it has been a joy to grow as friends with Darryl and we are working on a couple projects together and if you would like to be part of this exciting outreach please reach out to Frank@FrankShelton.com or my assistant Sharon@FrankShelton.com The office (410)973-1208 and we are grateful for Southern Maryland Christian Academy loaning us their beautiful gymnasium to serve as neutral site with ample parking. Their address is 9805 Faith Baptist Church Road in White Plains, MD and will take place at 7PM. The doors open at 6:15PM and first 700 will get in and we are making room in the overflow and most grateful for Keith Elkins of ELKINS KARATE and Chaplain John Lewis of Servant for Christ helping tremendously out the gate linking arms and partnering with us to make this dream a reality. Also grateful for Commissioner Reuben Collins and office of Congressman Steny H. Hoyer along with Charles County Sheriff’s Office & Charles County Public Schools desiring to help. President Reagan had a sign in the Oval that read, “It is amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.” We hope to also give two checks to worthy non profits at the event and one of them designated is the JUDE HOUSE in Bel Alton, MD located in Charles County. They are a drug rehab and transition house for teens and adults helping show a better way and we are encouraged that coaches from Little League and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs Baseball are interested in helping. If you would like to give a tax deductible gift to help offset this we would be grateful and we have also shared three tiers where folks can help immediately. If you believe in it 100 percent and like to give $100 that would be wonderful. Perhaps you would like to be a GAME CHANGER to help us promote overcoming opioids you can give $500 and if you want to be a LIFE CHANGER we are asking $1,000. You can go to the donate link above on our homepage or write a check. Keep in mind any gift can make a world of difference and together we will. God bless and PLAY BALL!