Gerrit Cole and his wife Amy, Aaron Judge and his wife Samantha, and Cody Bellinger with his wife Chase Carter Bellinger were among the Yankees contingent who turned out Monday night at Skylight at The Refinery in Brooklyn for the third annual Willow Gala, a fundraiser benefiting Carlos and Ashley Rodón's foundation for couples facing infertility and pregnancy loss. The event, held inside the glass-domed penthouse space tucked into the historic Domino Sugar Refinery along the Williamsburg waterfront, pushed the foundation's fundraising total past $1 million.
According to the New York Post, Carlos and Ashley Rodón hosted the gala and received support from Yankees teammates and their wives, with players including Austin Wells, Ben Rice, Cam Schlittler, George Lombard Jr., Max Fried, Paul Goldschmidt, Ryan McMahon, Ryan Weathers, Ryan Yarbrough, Spencer Jones, Tim Hill, Trent Grisham and Will Warren attending alongside YES Network's Meredith Marakovits. Carlos Rodón, a three-time MLB All-Star, and his wife co-founded the Carlos Rodón Foundation after their own journey with infertility and pregnancy loss, following two prior miscarriages before the birth of their daughter Willow, according to the foundation's own account shared by the YES Network.
A Grant Named for Their Daughter
The foundation's signature program, the Willow Grant, is named in honor of the Rodóns' daughter and, in partnership with the Nest Egg Foundation, provides individual grants ranging from $5,000 to $20,000 to help qualified couples cover the cost of IVF treatments at partnered fertility clinics, per Illume Fertility. Ashley Rodón serves as Executive Director of Advocacy and Impact for the Nest Egg Foundation, and the couple's first Willow Gala was held in September 2024 at the Delamar Greenwich Harbor Hotel in Greenwich, Connecticut, near where the Rodón family lives, according to Greenwich Moms. This year's move to a Brooklyn penthouse marks a physical expansion for the annual event as it enters its third year.
Those grants matter because the price tag on fertility treatment remains steep. A single full cycle of IVF in the United States typically runs $20,000 to $25,000 out-of-pocket once procedural fees, genetic testing and medication are factored in, according to the Advanced Fertility Center of Chicago, with medication alone sometimes costing $1,500 to more than $7,000 per cycle. Federal estimates from the CDC indicate roughly 1 in 5 married women in the country experience difficulty conceiving, underscoring how widespread the financial and emotional strain the foundation targets actually is.
Honoring Kyle Busch's Legacy
The night's most emotional moment came when Carlos and Ashley Rodón presented the Seeds of Hope Award to Samantha Busch, accepting on behalf of her shared legacy with her late husband, NASCAR champion Kyle Busch. The award recognized Samantha and Kyle Busch's dedication to expanding access to fertility care through the Bundle of Joy Fund, which the couple founded in 2015 after their own fertility challenges and which now partners with the Carlos Rodón Foundation to provide Willow Grants. Busch died at age 41 in May, after a severe case of pneumonia progressed into sepsis with rapid and overwhelming complications, per a family statement, just before a planned race at Charlotte Motor Speedway — a sudden illness Hoodline tracked as it unfolded that weekend.
“There is nothing like telling a couple that they have received a grant and seeing relief and hope flood in,” Samantha Busch said, per the Post's report. The Bundle of Joy Fund has awarded more than 150 financial grants totaling over $2 million since its founding, helping in the birth of more than 100 babies through IVF, according to figures reported by WBAL Radio. Just days before the Willow Gala, the inaugural Kyle Busch Invitational was held August 21 at Bowman Gray Stadium in North Carolina, raising money for the fund and featuring 70 drivers, including Busch's 11-year-old son Brexton, as reported by FloRacing.
The Coverage Gap Grants Try to Fill
New York State has required large-group commercial health plans with 100 or more employees to cover up to three cycles of IVF since a mandate took effect January 1, 2020, a law the New York State Department of Financial Services estimates extended potential IVF benefits to roughly 2.4 million New Yorkers. But self-insured corporate plans and small-group plans remain exempt, leaving many employees to shoulder the full cost themselves — the exact gap that grants like the Willow Grant and Bundle of Joy Fund are designed to close. Hoodline previously reported on the outpouring of support for Busch's family following his death and on NASCAR's public celebration of his life at Charlotte Motor Speedway in July.
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