NECBL Teams Give Back to Their Communities

August 10, 2012 - New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) News Release

There were lots of reasons to attend the July 10th Laconia at Newport game. The NECBL's top two home run hitters- Laconia's Danny Collins and the Gulls' Yale Rosen- would be going mano a mano in a ballpark conducive to home runs. The night was beautiful. Cardines Field drips history. The game was arguably Rhode Island's best family entertainment value.

As usual, Newport GM Chuck Paiva was trying to leverage that large crowd to both give back and improve his community. July 10th was Battling for Breast Cancer Night in Newport. Sponsored by the Lila Delman Real Estate firm, the ball game doubled as a chance to raise funds for the Gloria Gemma Breast Cancer Resource Foundation.

The horrid disease hit especially close to home for the Gulls' family this summer. Maggie Corbin, the wife of Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin, was supposed to assist Newport this summer. Instead, her daughter had a mastectomy in late April after she was diagnosed as a high risk for breast cancer; Maggie had to stay in Nashville to care for her.

"We have a Battling for Breast Cancer Night or something similar, every year to create awareness for these special causes, to raise money and to give back to people who can use some support," Paiva explained. "Over the years, we've had local families who have experienced these terrible diseases. It gives us a chance to raise money and help them with their troubles."

The Battling for Breast Cancer Night was not an isolated incident on the Newport Gulls' calendar. A quick scan of Newport's 2012 promotions found the Gulls' Scholarship Night, Military Appreciation Night, Salvation Army Night, Rhode Island National Guard Night and Basebald, all trumpeting a way to support worthy causes and build stronger communities.

The last one on that list, Basebald, might have the most meaning to Paiva and his staff. The July 20th game and fundraiser was the brainchild of Mike Melillo, a Gull in 2008 and 2009, and brother of current Gull Jeff.

"In the early spring Mike approached me with his idea of raising money to fight kids' cancer through the St. Baldrick's Foundation," Paiva wrote to the NECBL GMs. "Mike approached Aquidneck Medical Associates for their support to sponsor the evening and they graciously accepted.

"The current Gulls team has agreed to shave their heads if we can raise $10,000 before July 20." Paiva also pointed out the multiplier effect of getting friends and supporters to "put a bounty" on their heads by promising to be shaved bald if enough funds could be raised. "This could give Mike his best chance of achieving his goal of perhaps saving a life," Paiva concluded. Newport in fact raised $17,000...and lots of Gulls gladly shaved their feathers, er, hair.

Newport's giving back to the community are extraordinary...which makes them par for the course in the NECBL. Giving back to the towns in which teams play is not an option. Every team within the League features strong community involvement and generous philanthropy to the area's worthy causes.

"I think it's critical to the success of a summer collegiate League program," Paiva stated on the importance for a team to be a good citizen. "If you are involved in the community that you play in, and you give back to the community that supports you, it's going to come back to you five times more. We're always giving: to some organization, to some cause that is meaningful whether it is children, education, diseases, because it always comes back to help us. Along the way, someone is there to support us. They see what we're doing and it's why we fill these stands every night."

2012 marks the first summer that Pat O'Connor owned the New Bedford Bay Sox, yet Pat and his wife Beth are grey beards in using baseball to raise funds and awareness for worthy causes. The O'Connors built Little Fenway in the backyard of their Essex, Vermont home in 2001. The ballpark is a full 1/4th scale of the Red Sox home stadium and is used exclusively for Wiffle Ball tournaments for charity.

To date, over $2.0 million has been raised for charity, mostly benefiting pediatric illnesses. The endeavor was so successful that the O'Connors hauled in a truck load of Ivy to build Little Wrigley a few years later.

The O'Connors have instilled this give-back philosophy firmly within the Bay Sox DNA. The Bay Sox had multiple community-based programs that ran in conjunction with their 2012 home games. They raised funds and support for our Troops in a pre-season scrimmage that featured Bill Lee and Doug Flutie. They sponsor the Relay for Life to support those fighting cancer, a food drive to help the homeless, Literacy Day to recognize excellent students and a night for the Travis Roy Foundation to support injured spinal chord survivors.

It wouldn't be an O'Connor charity, of course, without a Wiffle Ball fundraiser. That took the form of the SLAMDiabetes Tournament that Pat O'Connor chaired with Michael Nailor, a high school teacher whose daughter suffers from Type 1 Diabetes (T1D). O'Connor hopes to raise awareness of T1D and support kids and their families on the SouthShore who suffer from the disease.

"This inaugural SLAMDiabetes Wiffle ball tournament is a shining example of what the Foundation is all about, and we can promise you that you will not want to miss this event," said O'Connor in a May 30th interview with South Coast Today. "Our goal is to bring people together to have fun... In the process of having fun, we can raise the awareness for our need to fight hard for a cure for T1D."

It's the same give-back philosophy, with a slightly different twist on execution, that permeates 150 miles to the north of New Bedford in Laconia. "We host Community Partnership Nights," explained Muskrat GM Noah Crane. "The CPN is designed to raise awareness and funds for local charities. We give $1 for every ticket back to that night's charity, presented to them during the game. We also let them throw out the first pitch, have a tent on the "concourse area", and give them PA and radio airtime to discuss their charity's mission.

"This summer we will host the NH Humane Society, Lakes Region United Way, Laconia Historical Society, and Laconia Got Lunch? which provides lunches to poor children during the summer."

A same sense of sharing pervades Laconia's border rivals in Vermont. Mountaineer GM Brian Gallagher described some of the many ways in which his ball club gives back to Montpelier.

"We have special nights, which include holding a specific community night at almost every game with free admission for youth in team uniforms from that community," Gallagher said. "Cancer awareness night and Military Night are annual events."

Gallagher's list included a 50/50 raffle each night where proceeds go to a different non-profit. "We do community outreach with the players where they visit a nursing home to eat breakfast with the residents and play a Wiffle ball game. Players volunteer at the Vermont Food Bank to fill boxes to support their efforts." He continued, "We also send players to a youth reading program where players read to kids in the middle school."

Many of the kids who attend the Mountaineers' baseball camps do so on donated scholarships, and would be unable to attend otherwise. Vermont donates tickets and/or memorabilia to any non-profit who requests gear for fundraising. Over the years, the Mountaineers also raised the funds to completely renovate city-owned Recreation Field.

"The Danbury Westerners are true community partners, as we strive to honor local not-for-profits at all of our home games," echoed Westerner President Paul Schaffer. "Some of our more notable not-for-profit honorees include the American Red Cross, Ann's Place- which provides comfort and support for cancer patients, the Danbury firefighers and police, Ed Randall's Bat for the Cure, The Jimmy Fund and The Scotty Fund." The latter two charities support the families of children with critical illnesses.

"In addition, the Westerners are in their 3rd year of their ERA Program (Eager Reader Awareness)," Schaffer continued, "where we promote literacy and reading programs in conjunction with libraries throughout western Connecticut."

Teams in the NECBL have a heart for their communities, a heart that stems in part from the League itself. The NECBL organization has targeted three specific charities- the Jimmy Fund, George Foster's Safe Youth Network and the Travis Roy Foundation- to be recipient's of the League's largesse. The NECBL has committed and delivered to a $1,500 donation to each charity. The League also donated $1,200 to UNICEF after the devastating Haiti earthquake two years ago.

To be clear, ALL teams in the NECBL are active in their communities. Non-mention of an organization is due to space limitations, not because of a lack of philanthropy. The NECBL is blessed with a special platform- the great and connecting game of baseball- and they use that platform to help others to the best of the League's ability.

"Baseball is a perfect opportunity to get people out in a wholesome, family entertainment type of venue where the focus can be on families, kids and what is important in life. Baseball is as American as apple pie so to me, that is where it starts," Paiva concluded.

As clubs know, that apple pie is tastier when you share it with your neighbor.

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New England Collegiate Baseball League Stories from August 10, 2012

• Westerners Postponed Until Saturday - Danbury Westerners
• NECBL Teams Give Back to Their Communities - NECBL
• Newport Gulls One Win Away from Fifth NECBL Title - Newport Gulls

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