Puerto Rican students visit Pittsburgh to honor Roberto Clemente through volunteerism

A group of six Puerto Rican students is visiting Pittsburgh this week to celebrate national hero Roberto Clemente and honor the baseball legend and humanitarian’s legacy through volunteerism.

The Pittsburgh nonprofit Amizade (named for the Portuguese word for friendship) and Puerto Rican nonprofit Caras con Causa (which translates to ‘faces with a cause’) partnered to bring the students to Pittsburgh, where they have been working on volunteer projects and immersing themselves in the local culture.

Brandon Blache-Cohen, Amizade’s executive director, said this is the first time the nonprofit has brought students from San Juan to Pittsburgh — two cities with a unique link through Clemente, who grew up in the San Juan suburb of Carolina and played 18 seasons for the Pirates.

“Roberto Clemente is a unique hero to young people in Pittsburgh and in Puerto Rico,” he said. “His work as an athlete on the field was inspiring to a lot of kids in the ’60s and ’70s, but it was actually his dedication to volunteerism and serving others that kids grow up today in Pittsburgh and San Juan admiring.”

The Puerto Rican students penned essays explaining how Clemente has inspired them to do volunteer work in their own communities before being selected for the trip to Pittsburgh.

While in Pittsburgh, they visited the Clemente Museum in Lawrenceville and planned to attend a Pirates game at PNC Park on Friday. The game is being played on what Major League Baseball recognizes as Roberto Clemente Day across the league.

It’s been “a great inspiration and a big motivation” for them to see Clemente, their “national hero,” also revered in another culture, said Michael Fernandez-Frey, executive director of Caras con Causa.

“I know for them it has been very inspiring,” he said.

One of the participating students, 17-year-old Samuel Ridera, said through a translator that he will be “taking lessons learned back home that I hope to implement in my own community.”

The visiting students met with local young people involved in volunteer work through the Hill District-based Center that Cares.

“Even if they were different culturally, ethnically, there was a great bond and connection” between the two groups of students, Fernandez-Frey said. “They were motivating each other to overcome for the good of the community.”

The San Juan students also partnered with Pittsburgh nonprofits such as Tree Pittsburgh and Light of Life to work on environmental projects and help people who are food insecure, Blache-Cohen said.

Blache-Cohen said he’s enjoyed being part of “a lovely work of cultural exchange.”

Blache-Cohen and Fernandez-Frey said they’re hoping to make this an annual event. People can support the nonprofits’ efforts by donating through the Amizade and Caras con Causa websites.