About 100 people gathered inside the Empire Theatre Sunday to watch the Kraft-Heinz Project Play announcement live during an event put on by TSN and Belleville group Field of Ability. Photo by Brett Bullen, QNet News
By Brett Bullen [1]
BELLEVILLE – The kids of the Belleville Challenger Baseball League are one step closer to having a fully accessible baseball diamond to play on after Belleville won the Kraft-Heinz Project Play on Sunday.
The Belleville group Field of Ability [2] will use the $250,000 prize to renovate the current dirt baseball field at Parkdale Veterans Park into a barrier-free facility that will include rubberized turf, accessible dugouts, a fully fenced field and other accessibility improvements that will make it easier for kids with disabilities to use the field.
“This means we can get a shovel in the ground come spring,” says Field of Ability chair Lisa Newman-Chesher. “We have $150,000 raised by the community and now we have this $250,000.”
The project is expected to cost $700,000 to $750,000 in total.
The Kraft-Heinz prize money “almost fully funds the playing surface,” Belleville mayor-elect Mitch Panciuk said after the announcement on Sunday. “We still have other fundraising opportunities, and council still has to make our contribution.”