The Karen Friedman Memorial Baseball Camp for a Cure was established in 2014 by Joey Friedman to honor his mother Karen. 

After Karen’s death in 1992, her family established a scholarship in her memory. The Karen Wallace Friedman Memorial Scholarship is annually awarded to a deserving King George High School senior. The student must be planning on attending college to major in education, and must have displayed the strong academic and leadership skills that Karen always exemplified. 

The family’s original goal was to provide a scholarship each year until the Karen’s final class was old enough to graduate. But when her last class headed to college in 2000, there were still funds in the account. The family decided to continue the scholarship. For many years it seemed like there wouldn’t be enough money to continue the program in the future, but an anonymous donor continually replenished the funds to keep the scholarship program alive. Eventually, in 2012, the funds ran out and the scholarship was no longer able to be given out.

The scholarship was a way for Karen to be remembered. When the scholarship was no longer given out, Joey began to think of ideas to continue her memory and rejuvenate the scholarship.

In the winter of 2013, Joey’s paternal grandmother passed away from metastatic breast cancer. He had never seen someone in so much pain as his grandmother was during her last battles with cancer. When he learned that most cancer patients deal with similar pain, and that his late mother was in so much pain she had to be coached how to breathe, he was further motivated.

Coincidentally, 2013 was Joey’s last year of playing professional baseball, allowing him time to plan a baseball camp. He used the contacts he obtained over the years through playing and helping coach camps and clinics to start the “Karen Friedman Memorial Baseball Camp for a Cure.” The mission of the camp is to remember his mother, as well as to raise money to fund the Karen Wallace Friedman Memorial Scholarship and to contribute to the fight against breast cancer. Joey also wants to make a difference in the lives of young people, just like his mom spent her life doing.

The success of the camp is attributed to the quality of the coaches volunteering, the hard-work of the volunteers who aren’t on the field, generous sponsors, and loyal campers.