 Well tomorrow will also be day one of Hope Week at the stadium and to discuss this great initiative We are joined now by Yankees vice president of communications and media relations Jason Zillow Jason always great to see you my friend Hope Week was on hiatus in 2020 for obvious reasons Does having a Hope Week this year feel like yet another step towards some normalcy? Hi Nance good to see you and yeah I think collectively as an organization as a city as a society I think You know I think people are ready to kind of pick themselves back off the mat and kind of dust themselves off and kind of You'll begin that return to you know what we all feel like is normalcy and for you know 11 years here Hope Weeks become you know a staple It's become a tradition and the fact that you know we're able to roll this thing back out again this year and kind of You know unfurl some good news for five straight days. I think is welcomed by everybody Absolutely, and for those that may not be familiar Let people know how did Hope Week get started and please make sure everyone knows this is your inspiration well, it's Look it started on my dry erase board back at the old Yankee stadium I don't even remember what year it was now, but for it to go from where it was then to the reality that is now It's very much a collective effort Starts a with the people who work in this department Who kind of really pour their heart and souls into it for an awful long time leading up to the week? but also really the ownership and you know my bosses need to also be recognized because Every year it's not can we do it. It's how we can do it better and when I go to them and ask them for Whether it's inspiration whether it's finances whatever it is it's not you know, it's it's absolutely yes What can we do to make this even more impactful to the community surrounding us? Well, we've already spotlighted one of the Hope Week honorees Can you give us a preview of what next week has in store overall without giving too much away? I know a lot of it is a surprise to folks. Yeah, you know look I would I would just say that I think that it's a it's a diverse group of people and organizations and families who Who deserve a moment of spotlight and not necessarily, you know for their egos, but you know a lot of these Stories a lot of these causes, you know One of the big reasons we do what we do is to kind of take the engine of the Yankees and kind of allow these people these families to kind of climb on our back and Let the rest of the world of New York City know that they exist that their stories are worth hearing and they should be celebrated And you know Jason one of the many great things about this is that the Yankees players themselves are involved all week long How much pride does that give you to see some of the top names in the game take part? Yeah, there I mean look the players drive the bus here and want more ways than one and when they Embrace and wrap their arms around something like Hope Week. I mean that gives us Wind at our back, you know if our players are invested and they truly are with this for many years now it really allows the initiative to take the shape that it should because Look these these kids or these families or these organizations when they see the New York Yankees And they see our players with smiles on their faces and our players willingness to embrace them and embrace their stories It just makes everything that much more impactful and Hope Week has definitely inspired other Organizations as as we've seen what does that say about the reach of Hope Week? I mean that's that's kind of what was intended the fact of the matter as we do five stories every year and There's so many more other stories out there that we don't get to that, you know, hopefully other teams other companies other industries Kind of pick up the torch and carry it along the way That's all the better because there's more than five stories every year that should be spotlighted Just great. Thanks so much Jason for the time. Have a tremendous Hope Week Congratulations on everything and safe travels back home. Thanks, Nance. Good to see you. See you soon. Yes, you too