Bears Make a Difference - Special Needs Sports

My name is Tim Adams, and I’ve volunteered in youth sports for the past 10 years in roles ranging from Assistant Coach to the President of our athletic association. I wanted to share something special that has touched my life and the lives of dozens of kids and families.

Our Bears Make a Difference program was founded in 2018 and is the embodiment of what youth sports should be. Bears Make a Difference is currently a co-ed Baseball program dedicated to athletes with mental, physical and multiple disabilities. We have participants from ages 5 to 18 years old who come together on Sunday afternoons in the Spring and the Fall to play baseball, learn teamwork and build lifelong friendships. Visit our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/bearsmakeadifference/

If you are ever in our small town of Dacula, GA, you should stop by Rabbit Hill Park some Sunday afternoon for an experience that may well change your life. You’ll hear parents from all teams cheering for every player on the field. You’ll see our “Buddies,” who are many times youth or college baseball or softball players themselves, working with our athletes to keep them safe and teach them the game. You’ll feel the energy, the joy, and the confidence from our athletes as they play and set an example for all of us on the true spirit of sports.

With all of the growth and success of the program, it hasn’t been without challenges. We currently play on a small dirt field at our local park. If there is rain, or it is too hot or cold, our athletes can’t play. This can be crushing to them, given how much they look forward to this outlet each week. This is where you can help. We plan to build a facility that will be a “home” for these kids; a place where they can play even when the weather doesn’t cooperate. A facility to be able to expand to other sports beyond baseball.

The cost of a facility is significant, but we remain undeterred in our goal, given our program’s spirit of overcoming the challenges before us. We hold an annual baseball tournament to benefit the program and do ongoing fundraising, but we know we can’t do this alone. We need the support of our community and beyond; we need you to help to make this dream a reality.