Without turning this article into a Steven King length novel, the day ended perfectly. I must admit, I did try to stack the deck a little bit with individuals I knew who had some decent communication skills, and who were involved with outside activities. Today I was having three times this amount. I cringe on days when I have just five individuals to supervise on work crews. I was responsible to have fifteen juveniles appear and behave appropriately. The team name was the “METS.” I grew up watching and loving the METS professional baseball team. The Spring season consisted of ten games (on Saturdays). By sponsoring a Miracle League team, it meant that we agreed to provide a volunteer, “buddy,” to assist each special needs individual throughout the game and season help them in the batter’s box be with them as they go around the bases as well as be with the player out in the field when they are not batting. For those of you that have never heard of the Miracle League, the Miracle League is a non-profit organization that provides an opportunity for children and adults with disabilities to play baseball at a special facility that meets the unique needs of the players and their families. You see, on this day, we (Northampton County Juvenile Probation Community Service Department) agreed to be a sponsor for a Miracle League team. I proceeded to enter a place I have never been before. As I remember it, it was a clear crisp April day. I was a little nervous, but I must admit I was also very excited. I stepped out of my car not fully knowing what lied ahead. We thank Mike and his supervisor for giving us permission to share this wonderful story. We were so impressed by this story we wanted to be sure to share it with everyone in the MLNC community. He wrote this article entitled A Special Season which will appear in a future edition of a Pennsylvania Juvenile Probation magazine. Mike Flavelle is a Community Service Coordinator for the Northampton County Juvenile Probation Department. If you were to see them play, you would call it a miracle.” (The Miracle League.) I believe that we need to accept people’s differences and give them the same opportunities we have. If I were to tell you the athletes are physically and mentally challenged, you might call it touching. “If I were to tell you about an organized youth baseball league, you might call it ordinary. Seeing these kids and young adults get a chance to play a two inning baseball game is truly remarkable, and being involved is an honor. They get treated like any other athlete with many fans cheering them on. The Miracle League gives disabled kids a place they can go with other kids with similar disabilities and be active. Some of the kids at the park were making fun of my Uncle, who is my mom’s brother and she instantly ran home crying. When my mom was a kid, she used to take my Uncle George to the park so he could play just like all the other kids. Even though a two inning game may not seem like much to us, it means the world to them. The Miracle League gives these children a chance to experience playing a sport, something many of us take for granted. This was a fundraiser for the Miracle League of Northampton County, which is a baseball league for physically and mentally disabled kids. Over the summer, I participated in an “Up All Night,” softball tournament in which my team played at 10 p.m., 12 a.m., 2 a.m., 4 a.m., and in the championship game at 8 a.m. My Uncle died in December of 2009 and he is my driving force to give other kids the opportunities that they normally wouldn’t have and the opportunities he never had. He couldn’t talk, but he taught my whole family many life lessons, always made us laugh, and never failed to keep a smile on our faces. My Uncle could not eat, drink, walk, or even go to the bathroom by himself. I had quickly learned that not all people are the same and we need to accept them as they are and not as what we think they should be. I believe in miracles.Īs a young child, I grew up around my Uncle who was severely autistic. I believe that we need to accept people’s differences and give them the same opportunities we have. Many of the disabled are kids who grow up unable to participate in many of the things we take for granted. There are over 500 million disabled people in the world, nearly 24 million in the United States, and 1.6 million in Pennsylvania.
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