Please help these players realize their baseball dreams.

Many of you know that I accepted a varsity coaching position at Godwin Heights High School in Wyoming, MI. Ninety-five percent of Godwin students are economically disadvantaged, which means their parents don’t have the extra resources to pay for summer travel baseball teams or player development camps. I am starting an American Legion Baseball team here in Grand Rapids to help these players develop their skills and hopefully put them on a level playing field. American Legion Baseball is the premier baseball league for players ages 14-19 years old. Our goal is to have 12 teams in the Grand Rapids area, 6 AA teams and 6 A teams within the next 3 years.

There are a lot of startup costs for this team. Things like bats and balls, uniforms, player and team fees, umpires for games, etc. The Rockford, Michigan post #102 has agreed to sanction us but is not backing us financially as they have more important social obligations for their resources. I would really appreciate any donations and hope we can meet our goal for this season.

Thank you

David Burch