Those of you who have been with me for any length of time know that I will hold little challenges to get people to make donations to charities. My wife works for American Cancer Society, so naturally I am close to that. The crumbling economy has caused many of these charities to suffer. I’ll just say this: do what you can, when you can, however you can. It doesn’t even have to be writing a check; you can volunteer in countless ways. And this is just what the Yanks will be doing next week, and I like it.

Thus, across five days next week, Manager Joe Girardi and all 25 of his players will divide into groups and take part in five Hope Week events. They will interact with a terminally ill man, with a married couple who are mentors to dozens of children, with children whose disease prevents them being in the sunlight, with a Little Leaguer whose cerebral palsy has confined him to a wheelchair and with two developmentally challenged workers from a law firm’s mailroom.

For Zillo, the events are a way for the Yankees to use their status to help the needy and create a domino effect of good will that other teams may decide to emulate.

“This isn’t about money,” Zillo said of a team quite famous for the size of its payroll. “This is about giving of yourself and giving of your time. Everybody has that ability.”

Cynics, and I usually am one of those, will say that this is merely a way for the Yanks to grab attention. To that I say: so what? Something good is being done and that’s enough for me.