Saugeen First Nation has been awarded $140,000 from the Jays Care Foundation grant program to refurbish one of their baseball diamonds with new bases, lights, bleachers, and dugouts.

Saugeen was selected as one of the winning communities after a three-round application process that spanned a year. From a Saugeen First Nation media release, the community has two baseball diamonds, one of which will be fully refurbished and maintained by a brand-new infield groomer.

“In recent years, Saugeen has hosted many youth teams both in regular season play and various tournaments. But they were only able to play on one diamond due to the growing safety concerns of our North diamond,” said Brad Ritchie, Economic Development Officer and one of the contributors to the grant proposal. “Our current North diamond is in pretty bad shape and needs major repairs. This funding will be able to provide the much-needed infrastructure upgrades to the diamond as well as mitigate any safety concerns,” he added.

The Saugeen Thunderbirds have six teams ranging in age from 5 to 18 years. Women’s Slow Pitch and Men’s Fastball teams will also use the diamonds. “We are very excited about this opportunity to revitalize the baseball diamonds for the benefit of our community,” said Cheree Urscheler, Band Administrator.

Field of Dreams is Jays Care’s granting program for infrastructure dedicated to youth life-skill development and physical activity; and provides funding to design, refurbish and build safe spaces for children and youth.

The refurbishment of the diamond will begin in the spring of 2018.