A few hours after a Friday afternoon game at Wrigley in late June, the Catalina Club was packed with Cubs players and members of the organization, there to support the joint effort of teammates Matt Boyd and Ian Happ in the fight against child trafficking.
Boyd has only been with the Cubs for a little over a year, but in that short time, his work with Kingdom Home has resonated throughout the locker room and the organization. That was on display as his teammates gathered to take part in a charity fundraising event called “Where Hope Begins,” where Boyd and his wife Ashley partnered with Happ and Connect Roasters, the coffee company Happ is a part of, to raise money to build new facilities for Kingdom Home in Uganda.
The idea to team up in this way off of the field came to Happ late last season, and not long after the Cubs played their final game in 2025, he reached out to Boyd.
“It’s obviously a great cause,” Happ said of Kingdom Home. “It’s something that is one of the founding principles behind Connect [Roasters]. Even before I joined them, they were giving back to communities through coffee, so it felt like a great opportunity to do something with that and support what Matt’s been doing for years.”
Boyd and his wife Ashley launched Kingdom Home in early 2018 in an effort to combat child trafficking in Uganda. Their current facilities provide a home to around 80 children, but the goal is to build a new dormitory for older children to give them a place to live as they transition into independence.
“We are making sure that they have a safe place to land as they’re coming out of childhood into adulthood,” Kingdom Home director of fundraising and administration Michele Kroll said. “As they continue to go to school and equip themselves, we want to make sure that they continue to live safely.”
At “Where Hope Begins,” Happ and Connect Roasters introduced the Hope Blend of their coffee, with beans sourced entirely in Uganda. A portion of the money brought in from each sale of Hope Blend goes toward Kingdom Home’s expansion efforts.
Along with Happ, several of their Cubs teammates and members of the organization, including manager Craig Counsell and owner Tom Ricketts, attended the event despite having played a nearly three hour game earlier that day. And many of them had donated items for auction, the proceeds going to Kingdom Home’s fundraising goal.
“I was just blown away by the support,” Boyd said. “It was really special to see all the guys show up, and for all of them to be there and so supportive.”
Items up for auction included memorabilia from players past and present, and the location for the event demonstrated the Cubs’ organization’s investment in supported the work Boyd and Happ were doing.
“We’re really grateful to the Cubs and couldn’t have done this event without them,” Kroll said. “We’re a small team at Kingdom Home, so it’s really amazing to see how they came alongside of us. And the hustle and the bustle to turn this around, even on a game day, and the players too, after being at the field all day, to show up and support Matt and Ashley in Kingdom Home, is wonderful.”
For the two players, the off-the-field partnership is an extension of their time together in the locker room and on the field. Last year was Boyd’s first in the Cubs organization, and he played a significant role in the team’s success, going 14-8 and posting a 3.21 ERA. Happ has been a steady and consistently productive presence in the Cubs lineup since he debuted in 2017. When Happ reached out to Boyd last fall, the idea to partner clicked immediately.
Then as the plan came to fruition in June, the work Boyd and Happ were doing together had struck such a chord throughout the organization that sticking around for a few more hours after an already long work day at Wrigley Field was an easy call to make.
“I think it’s one of those things that makes Ian feel good about what he’s started and what he’s built from a foundation perspective and the crossover that he has the ability to have,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell said. “So being able to help a teammate [with] a project that’s near and dear to the Boyds that they’ve been personally involved in growing from the start, that’s a win-win for everybody.
“That was my favorite part of the event. How Ian’s coffee, which is sourced from Uganda, helps [the Boyds’] project.”
Boyd and Happ’s fundraising event went well into the evening that Friday, with many of their teammates sticking around until the end. Boyd said Kingdom Home was able to reach its fundraising goal, which means they will be able to buy land in Uganda and break ground on new facilities. When the Boyds first launched Kingdom Home, they were able to help just over 30 kids. That number has grown significantly in the years since, and expanded outreach will change the lives of even more.
“We’re going to be able to build a home, and so we’re thankful for the generosity of the people of Chicago, the Cubs, and my teammates,” Boyd said. “Everyone who showed up, we were just floored by it. It all came together and it meant the world.”
As the Cubs navigate the last two months of the 2026 regular season and then what will come in the postseason, there is value in the kind of thing Boyd and Happ are doing together. Teammates bond over a variety of things during the course of a year, and having a shared effort that extends beyond what’s happening on the field can make sharing the up and downs of a baseball season easier.
“It’s important, it’s really what contributes to their long-term success is that balance they have in their lives,” Counsell said. “They have things that are important to them away from baseball and that they share those things with us. It makes them really good people, and it actually makes them better baseball players too.”
