Paper or plastic?: Shonda Schilling bags groceries at Shaw's
By Ariel Wittenberg/Daily News Correspondent
Tue Jul 29, 2008, 03:56 PM EDT


Shonda Schilling bags groceries for Shaw's customer Susan Rosenberg of Brookline while Assistant Customer Service Manager


NEWTON -

When Teddy Blank went to the Shaw's Supermarket on Commonwealth Avenue yesterday, he was just looking to buy a few items. When he put his items on the conveyor belt of aisle 5, and looked at the woman bagging groceries and knew something was up.

"Twizzlers and a Red Bull," the woman said, "Healthy."

The Newton resident stared, as if trying to place her, then his eyes lit up.

"Aren't you Shonda Schilling, Curt Schilling's wife?" he asked.

She nodded.

"Cool." he said.

Like the rest of the workers at the newly re-opened Shaw's, Schilling was clocking in to earn extra cash - but the money wasn't for her.

Instead, Schilling was helping the supermarket raise money for Curt's Pitch for ALS, to help fight Lou Gehrig's disease.

The Schillings' organization partnered with Shaw's back in 2005. Together, the two companies started the Pitch'n to Win campaign which raises money by asking customers to purchase paper baseballs - $1.38 for a STRIKE ball and $3.38 for an OUT ball.

All of the money goes directly to research and treatment of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and every customer who buys a baseball is entered into a raffle to win two tickets to a Red Sox game.

In the three years since the partnership was formed, it has raised $500,000.

"We don't have anyone in the family who's been stricken with ALS," Schilling said. "But once you meet an ALS patient, you just automatically understand. It's a horrifying disease."

Over 200 New England Shaw's Supermarkets will participate in Pitch'n to Win that runs through Aug.3. Star Market and Osco Pharmacy are also part of the fundraiser.

Schilling's visit to the Newton grocery was to "bring the awareness back to the disease in the last week of the campaign," Schilling said.

President of the Massachusetts Chapter of the ALS Association Debra Sharpe has been working with the Schillings since 2003 when Curt signed with the Red Sox.

"It's a devastating disease for patients and their families," Sharpe said. "This program gives everyone in the community a chance to get involved for very little money."

Blank, who, at Schilling's request, bought a paper baseball, agrees.

"Anytime you have the chance to make a difference like this, especially if it doesn't cost that much, you should."

While some customers donated because of the cause, for others like Joe Montoya of Dedham, Schilling was the key to their giving.

"I recognized her, so I bought a baseball," Montoya said as he lifted up the right sleeve of his T-shirt to reveal a tattoo on his bicep that read "Red Sox World Series Champions 2004" with a big red "B" in the middle.

"Of course I'm a fan, listen to the way I talk," he said through a thick Boston accent. "We're all fans around here."

Shaw's originally asked Schilling to the store to encourage donations. But with her past bagging experience, she had other ideas. Schilling said she worked at a Food Lion supermarket while in college and decided to pitch in other ways at the checkout.

"All I knew about them before was that Curt was the pitcher who helped break the curse of the Great Bambino, but they were willing to lend their good name to a great cause," said Shaw's Director of Public Affairs Judy Chong. "Shonda offered herself up. She told us she had past experience and a resume and thought it would be fun to do."

Schilling said she was glad to pitch in, both with raising money, and with bagging groceries.

"When you're shopping, you don't notice the new foods, but when you bag, you have to look at everything," she said. "I didn't know they sold rainbow sherbert at grocery stores. I'm going to be a big hit at home when I bring that back."

Schilling's experience paid off. Wearing a Star Market apron and a nametag of her own, over jeans, a brown top and stiletto heels, Schilling made small talk with the customers and even remembered to place the eggs at the top of the bags so they wouldn't break.

"She's just perfect," said Charlene Peters, the Shaw's employee designated to ring up the food that Schilling bagged. "I think she's better than some of the people who work here."

Schilling, on the other hand, was not so sure.

"Sure you think I'm doing a great job," she joked, as she loaded bags into Weston resident Al Capella's shopping cart. "But just wait until you go home and realize I broke your eggs or something."

"Don't worry," Chong assured her, "you're a pro."

"Yeah," Capella said. "I come here just about every day and I think we should keep her full time."

"We could do that," Chong said. "But she'd have to change her shoes. Those heels would kill her."



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