Mill Neck Center for the Deaf is bringing American Sign Language to home plate this spring, partnering with the New York Mets for a Deaf Awareness Night on May 26 at Citi Field in Queens.
The event is expected to draw thousands of fans and marks the largest sports partnership the Mill Neck Family of Organizations has ever undertaken. It’s also the Mets’ only nonprofit partnership of the night, which gives the Nassau County-based organization a platform that most advocacy groups rarely get.
Students, staff, and community members from Mill Neck will take part in several on-field moments. That includes performing the national anthem in American Sign Language, throwing out the ceremonial first pitch, and honoring staff with the Amazin’ Award. An information table will be set up inside the stadium so attendees can learn about Mill Neck’s programs and find ways to support its work.
Tickets run $60 per person, with seating in Sections 107, 108, 109, and 110.
For Timothy Charon, chief operating officer of the Mill Neck Family of Organizations, a night like this isn’t a novelty. It’s a reflection of what his team does every single day. “For us here, that’s every day of our lives,” he said. “It’s important to continue to advocate for that community so they have an equitable seat at the table, an equitable chance to live the same lives as everybody else.”
That advocacy goes back nearly 80 years. The Mill Neck Family of Organizations was founded in 1947 by the Lutheran Friends of the Deaf to fill a serious gap in deaf education along the East Coast. What started as a focused educational mission has grown into a full-service nonprofit serving deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals as well as people with developmental disabilities. Programs now cover job training and coaching, independent living support, interpreting services, and day and community programs, offering support from early childhood through adulthood.
Dr. Bradley Porche, superintendent of Mill Neck Manor School for the Deaf, said the Mets partnership puts a spotlight on something the school works toward constantly. “The impact of Mill Neck is seen in our strong partnership with families,” he told Long Island Press. “Our students go on to lead successful, independent lives, and that is the greatest measure of our work.”
Fully inclusive. That’s the standard Kelly Barbu, director of events at Mill Neck Family of Organizations, is holding the May 26 event to. Interpreters will be placed throughout Citi Field, and the programming is designed to be accessible and family-friendly from start to finish. Barbu said the response from students, families, and the broader community has already been overwhelmingly positive, well before the first pitch is thrown.
“We really want to expose our community to a typical game experience, but in a way that’s fully inclusive and accessible, so everyone can be part of it,” Barbu said.
That goal, making mainstream public spaces genuinely work for deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals rather than just technically accommodate them, sits at the heart of what Mill Neck does. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders, roughly 15% of American adults report some degree of hearing loss, a figure that makes the push for accessible public events less a niche concern and more a broad community issue. On Long Island, where Mill Neck has spent decades building interpreting networks and employment pipelines, that work is visible in schools, workplaces, and now, a major league ballpark.
The Mill Neck Family of Organizations runs programs across Nassau County and beyond, and the Citi Field event gives the public a concrete look at what access actually means in a crowded, loud, high-energy venue. Seating in Sections 107, 108, 109, and 110 puts attendees close to the field action, and the on-field ASL anthem performance alone is likely to draw attention from fans who have never considered what a fully accessible ballpark experience could look like.
Mill Neck has used sports partnerships to raise awareness before, but Charon and his team are clear that a Mets game in late May is just one night in a much longer calendar of work. The organization’s interpreting services, job coaching, and school programs run year-round, serving individuals from early education through independent living and employment. The event on May 26 gives the public a chance to see that mission in action, in one of the loudest and most public settings imaginable.