Lawmakers deliver a miracle

MONROE – After several years of planning and fundraising, the Monroe Rotary Club says it now has enough money for a new baseball field for children with disabilities.

The club will receive $700,000 for the project out of the state capital budget, which lawmakers approved Sunday before the Legislature adjourned. The club will combine the money with about $200,000 it has already raised to build the ball field at a city-owned lot in the southern part of the city, said Ric Carlson, a club member in charge of the project.

“It’s been a long, long haul,” Carlson said Monday.

Members of the Monroe Miracle League, a baseball group for children with disabilities, could start playing at the new field in spring of 2008, Carlson said.

Many have helped to make the project happen, said Sue Skillen, a Rotary Club member. Children washed cars and gave away coin jars. People chipped in money. Businesses sent in checks.

The project also received $10,000 from Farmers Insurance Group in late 2006. Jason Petty of Monroe won the money for the league in a contest without telling anybody he’d entered the baseball group.

“So many great people donated,” Skillen said.

The Miracle League is set to start its new season in a few weeks at Lake Tye Park, Carlson said. The Rotary Club, the league’s sponsor and operator, is working with the local YMCA to expand the league’s activities.

The league draws players and their parents from as far as North Bend, Skillen said. The new field will benefit many families, she said.

“From the beginning, our goal is to give kids a normal baseball experience,” she said.

Reporter Yoshiaki Nohara: 425-339-3029 or ynohara@heraldnet.com.