Hello, my name is Zach Edquist, and I am the current President of the baseball field at Firemans Park in Niles, Michigan. Along with Beth True and Bridget Tuohy, we have taken over the board from the previous administration this year.

As some of you might know, this was the ballpark I played at growing up from ages 6-12. Winning two state championships with my wonderful teammates and coaches. I have been the coach of the Jv team at Brandywine High school for the last 12 years. So you could say baseball is pretty much life to me.

Thousands of kids have played down at Fireman's Park and the plan is Thousands more will play in the future.

This campaign aims to help accomplish this goal by updating some items and purchasing new things to help ensure we are giving the best quality league and best facilities.

Some updates we would like to make are:

Some of the new items we would like to purchase are:

While the goal in place will not even cover half of the things we would like to do i think it is essential for everyone to understand the plans for the next few years. We will be updating the park while bringing in new elements to help keep our numbers growing and keep the Niles township area a baseball haven. Between the two high schools, there have been many great players who go on to play college ball at a high level and even the Minor Leagues. We want to expand that tradition, and the best way to do that is to give the players the best experience that keeps them coming back and wanting to play and get better at baseball.

Thankfully the field was replaced a few years ago, so it is still in excellent condition once we give it the yearly TLC. However, the pressbox and concession stand is still the same as when I played down there 20 years ago. As we all know, things need to be replaced after 20 years, especially one that gets used as hard as a concession stand that mainly volunteers run that. So updating the concession stand to more durable materials will not only help us right now but help future generations by ensuring we leave the park in a better condition than we got it.

One main reason we are using a gofundme compared to the old school fundraising methods is we are sympatheic that people dont have extra cash to spend on the usual things fundraisers sell like resturant cards or other items that could go to waste. So we are asking for cash instead in hopes to bring you along on this journey and show you precisely what the money is going to and see how the updates impact the youth in the community.

We appreicate each and every person reading this and hope you will take some time to donate or reach out with question comments or concerns. Also we always need volunteers so if you cant do money we really could use a couple hours of your valuable time.