Good morning.
I would like to take a few moments of your time to tell you about a very special organization within our community, The Miracle League of Austin County Texas. The ML of ACTX provides the special needs children in and around Austin County, Texas an opportunity to play baseball. It is one of more than 275 Miracle Leagues nationwide.
Founded in 2015 by two local special needs families, The ML of ACTX believes every child deserves a chance to play baseball. Registration is open to any special needs child, regardless of ability level or experience. In other words, there is no such thing as too disabled or not enough disabled. Any child with an interest in playing baseball that for whatever reason finds that traditional Little League will not work for him or her can find a place to play baseball with the ML of ACTX. In 2015 we had 16 players hailing from Wallis, Sealy, Columbus, Bellville, and Brenham. Registration for the Spring 2016 Season has just begun and we hope to include many new faces. Registrations can be completed via our website www.miracleleagueofactx.org.
The ML of ACTX is able to create an environment for the special needs children in our community to play baseball thanks to the selfless support of many local heroes. During a Miracle League game each player is paired up with a Buddy to assist him or her during the game. The role of a Buddy varies from Player to Player as each Player requires a unique level of assistance. In 2015 we had a huge outpouring of support from the community in terms of volunteers coming out to serve as Buddies. Local adults and children alike served as Buddies. A local baseball team, multiple teachers and paraprofessionals, 4H participants, a church youth group, and many, many individual community members showed us a level of support that can only be described as humbling.
We’re reaching out to the leaders and members in our community to help us spread the word about the ML of ACTX. We need your help in order to ensure another successful year. You can help us in two ways.
First, by simply being aware of The ML of ACTX. We try very hard to reach all of the potential players in our communities. We send flyers to 15 different school districts, the local newspapers offer us coverage, and we update constantly on social media. However, awareness of the ML of ACTX is still growing. Many times folks are quick to skim past something that doesn’t apply to them. And while it is true that many in our community do not have a special needs child, a neighbor, a family at church, someone at the dentist’s office, may. You never know who you can help us reach. Knowing that we are here and sharing the information whenever possible helps us to reach the children who may otherwise never have an opportunity to know the thrill of the crowd cheering for them as they hit the ball. Please, be an ambassador for the ML of ACTX and share our website and FB information whenever possible. Spring 2016 Registration runs until February 29, 2016. If your organization has a FB or Twitter account, we ask that you please share. If your organization puts out a flyer or newsletter, we ask that you consider sharing about the ML of ACTX. If your organization has a monthly meeting or gathering, we would be thrilled to come talk about our organization at your next meeting. If you have another idea for sharing our organization, we would love to hear that as well. We urge you to help us make baseball an opportunity for every child.
Second, we are asking that our community leaders and role models help us in encouraging the members of our community to continue to show us the tremendous volunteer support that we have received in the past. Our games are on Sunday afternoons (approximately 3-4pm TBD once registration is finished) at Clark Park in Bellville. Volunteers are able to sign up for as little as one game or are welcome to join us for the season. Volunteers may sign up individually or as a group. Approximately 25 volunteers are needed each game day. Games for our Spring 2016 Season are: April 3, April 10, April 17, April 24, May 1, May 15, and May 22. If volunteering as Buddy doesn’t sound like a good fit we also need umpires, catchers, announcers, and fans for all of our games. Unsure if ML would be a good fit for you or your group? Come watch a game! We welcome fans of all ages! Even if you are unable to volunteer, we are asking that you help us to share this information. Please share with coaches and youth leaders. Seeing young people help other young people is amazing! If you are in a leadership or managerial position at work, please consider organizing a group from your employer to come out and volunteer for a game. We love to see groups sign up. It allows us to build partnerships with the businesses and organizations in our area and lend those businesses and groups our support when we are able. We all know the saying, “it takes a village to raise a child”, there is no doubt that it takes a village to offer baseball as an opportunity for the special needs children. Individual volunteer registration is available on our website. Groups can register by emailing me at [email protected]. If you have questions, need a flyer to post, have additional ideas, please contact me. We need you to help us connect with the heroes in our community.
We look forward to much laughter, sportsmanship, friendship, and building self-esteem for all of our special players in 2016. Thank you very much for your support.
Jessica Gordon
League Director and Secretary
The Miracle League of Austin County, Texas
