An 11-year boy is closer to playing in the big leagues after a $210,000 bottom-of-the-ninth donation by the Toronto Blue Jays’ charitable arm brought Ottawa’s Miracle League within hailing distance of its $1-million target to build a Field of Dreams for disabled ballplayers.
“We are giving these kids the major league experience,” Rolly Desrochers said. “That’s the philosophy behind it.”
Desrochers’s 11-year-old son, Bryce, was born with cerebral palsy and is the inspiration behind the campaign to build the accessible baseball diamond and playground at the Notre-Dame-des-Champs Park near Navan and Mer Bleue roads in Orléans.
Desrochers teamed up with the Miracle League of Ottawa to raise money for a field with a cushioned rubber surface with painted bases, larger dugouts, a wheelchair accessible playground and washrooms.
Ashlyn Piche-Dufton, 5, and her dad, Ian Dufton, hit balls at the ball field. Young Ashlyn, 5, has a chromosome-related disability that doesn’t keep her from loving baseball one bit.
Ian Dufton (centre) and his five-year-old daughter, Ashlyn – who suffers from a chromosome-related disability – happily clap after the official announcement.
Bryce said he wants one rule implemented for the new field: everyone will get to first base regardless how they perform at home plate.
“Anywhere else you have to earn it,” he said jokingly.
Dozens of people wearing Blue Jays apparel gathered at the field on Thursday afternoon for the announcement that the Jays Care Foundation had donated $210,000 for the first accessible recreation hub of its kind in Canada.
Kellen Schleyer, a local 12-year-old with Cerebral Palsy, whacks the ball from home plate.
Ashlyn Piche-Dufton, 5, has a chromosome-related disability that doesn’t keep her from loving baseball one bit.
“This is obviously amazing support coming from Canada’s national baseball team, the Toronto Blue Jays,” David Gourlay, the president of the Miracle League of Ottawa, told the crowd. “This is really going to help put us onto the map here in the community.”
Gourlay said the Miracle League now has $935,000 in pledges. The gift from Jays Care Foundation means that the Miracle League needs to raise an additional $386,000 to complete the facility.
Bryce Desrochers, 11, who has Cerebral Palsy, laughs as his dad Rolly sings a baseball song to him.
Bryce Desrochers, a local 11-year-old with Cerebral Palsy, gets a happy hug from Ashlyn Piche-Dufton, 5, and her dad, Ian Dufton, after the official announcement.
The City of Ottawa is matching donations to the Miracle League of Ottawa dollar for dollar.
“I’m still on cloud nine. For them to come forward with that kind of donation, and put us so near our goal is so amazing,” Desrochers said. “It’s a win-win situation for our entire community.”
The idea for an accessible field came after Bryce told his father he would love to play baseball on a field without the obstacles he encounters riding in his power wheelchair.
Bryce’s mother, Michelle Desrochers, learned about customized baseball fields while she was watching an episode of Extreme Makeover: Home Edition.
