Matthew Boyd takes up goal of ending sex slavery by caring for 36 girls in Uganda
Many athletes take the money they make from their talents and, admirably, give some to charitable causes. Few go above and beyond like Detroit Tigers pitcher Matthew Boyd, who is “essentially adopting” 36 girls in Uganda in an effort to protect them from human trafficking. Boyd’s efforts were featured in a story in the Detroit Free Press on Saturday.
According to a State Department report from 2018, Uganda “does not fully meet the minimum standards for the elimination of trafficking; however, it is making significant efforts to do so.”
Boyd is an unexpected contributor to those efforts. It started last year, when he and his wife, Ashley, found out about a woman in Uganda named Dorothy who was caring for 36 girls, but was running into financial issues.
From there, according to the story, Boyd and his wife looked into what they could do to help, and they did much more than just write a check. They set up a nonprofit called Kingdom Home, and began caring for the 36 children, providing food, clothing and shelter.
“They loved the girls from the first time they read our story,” Dorothy told The Free Press. “They devoted themselves to helping us by offering us shelter, food, education by paying the girls' school fees and even spiritual nurture.”
The Boyds have visited the girls in Uganda and constantly check in from oversees. And they are trying to expand to build more shelters to take in more girls, which is why Boyd was recently fundraising before a spring training game in Lakeland, Florida.
“We can end child sex trafficking in Uganda,” Boyd told The Free Press. “The bad guys aren’t smarter than us. We can end this. We can outsmart them. We can beat them to the kids. We can protect them.”
From J.J. Watt’s efforts to help victims of Hurricane Harvey to LeBron James starting his own public school in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, athletes have proven to be willing to give time and money to better those in need.
But here is Boyd, entering his fifth year in the majors, who is not a star or a well-known athlete by any means. Still, he is putting time and money into this cause out of the goodness of his heart. And that is something to be commended.
The Boyd’s foundation’s website is kingdomhome.org, which has instructions as to how to sponsor a child.
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