Carolina Martinez's charity helping children in Boston, Dominican Republic

BOSTON — Chances are you know her husband, World Series Champion Pedro Martinez, but Carolina Martinez has a legacy of her own.

This week, Boston 25 News anchor Kerry Kavanaugh and Carolina visited their old stomping grounds at Boston College and talked about how her experiences there helped shape the work she's doing to help children in her native country and here in Boston.

Carolina came to Boston College in the late 90s as a student-athlete playing volleyball. While there, she met her husband who was blazing a trail of his own, but it's the work that Pedro and Carolina do outside of sports that she feels will leave the biggest mark.

"We receive 400-450 kids every day," said Carolina.

Through the Pedro Martinez Foundation, which Carolina runs, they operate a community center in the Dominican Republic that supports students on every level.

"There's a commitment on my side to never forget where I came from and to be able to open doors for those kids.. that like me, have a dream," said Carolina.

Their flagship program 'There's Power in Learning' introduces kids to sports, but also art, music, and poetry. Each child identifies their talent and through the foundation finds opportunity.

"It's hard in a third-world country to make it," she said. "Because of one person, which is me, two people, which is me and Pedro, we're impacting so many other kids, that can also do this for other kids, as well."

The goal is for those kids to pay it forward.

"It's going to be a domino effect which can basically change a generation," Carolina told Kavanaugh.

It's a mission that will soon expand as the Pedro Martinez Foundation is relocating its headquarters to Boston where Carolina hopes to continue to help children who are smart and talented but need a chance.

"We just want to discover what they're all about," she said.

The foundation just broke ground on a charter school in the Dominican Republic and they're very excited about enrolling students starting in 2021.

Carolina said she and Pedro strive to be mentors and examples of success achieved through hard work, not just the instant success that a lot of kids see on social media. They want to be role models of hard work, and now paying it forward, they provide others with opportunity.

You can help, too. One of the foundation's biggest fundraisers is this weekend at Fenway Park. The family-friend foodie event Feast with 45 is on Sunday

Cox Media Group