Guest post by Katie Powers
Powers Law Group is a Macon-based law firm whose founders are committed to supporting those in our community who work to make it a better place to live, especially when their work involves improving the lives of children and young people. Recently, we saw a local news story about a team of young all-star baseball players from Bloomfield Youth Baseball League’s team, Bloomfield Pride Allstars. The team highlighted were in the U6 League, or under 6-year-old league.
The Bloomfield Pride All-Stars U6 League had been working, along with two other qualifying teams from Bloomfield (Bloomfield Pride All-Stars U8 and Bloomfield Pride All-Stars U10), to raise $3,000 in order to play in the USSSA’s All-Star World Series in Gulfport, Mississippi. The All-Star World Series was held on June 26-July 1, 2018.
When the story aired, the baseball players were still $1,000 short of their goal. They needed to raise the funds to pay for their travel, lodging, and meal expenses for the trip. After the children’s extraordinary commitment to working and practicing so hard from January through the final state tournament earlier in June, we knew we had to help these determined kids and their dedicated coaches make this dream into a reality.
On June 23, 2018, Attorney Jeff Powers and staff members from Powers Law Group visited the Bloomfield Community Center, where an end-of-the-season celebration for the baseball players had taken place earlier in the day. Mr. Powers was thrilled to deliver a check to cover the remainder of the team’s expenses. We had the privilege of meeting Adonis Hollingshed, the President of Bloomfield Youth Baseball, and several of the wonderful coaches who had gotten the teams to World Series status.
Sadly, we were unable to meet the team members because they were working at a car wash a few miles away to continue to raise money for their trip. This speaks to the level of dedication these young boys possess to achieve their goal. For many of them, it would be their first trip outside of Georgia, and their first chance to visit the ocean.
Additionally, Book ‘Em, our primary outreach project, brought over 100 brand-new books for the teams to have for the bus trip to Gulfport, and to keep forever afterward. Titles included “Jackie Robinson – a young reader’s biography,” “Clifford Makes the Team,” “Get a Hit, Mo!,” and “Little Shaq Makes a Decision.”
With all of the disheartening news of violence occurring on an almost daily basis, it is truly a God-send to know that there are many adults working daily in our community to be role models and leaders for our young people. In addition to the Bloomfield Youth Baseball League President, Adonis Hollingshed, the Bloomfield Pride All-Stars leadership team includes 6U Manager, Cedrick Jackson, 8U Manager, Marlon Grier, and 10U Manager, Christopher Gray. Along with the coaches, assistant coaches, and parents of these wonderful kids, they demonstrate the kind of leadership that we need to encourage. We salute Bloomfield Youth Baseball for their amazing work!
With the help of Powers Law Group and many generous members of our community, who gave of their time and money to help get the Bloomfield Pride All-Stars to the 2018 All-Star World Series, the boys and young men from Macon made us all proud. The Bloomfield Pride All-Stars U6 League won second place in the nation, while the Bloomfield Pride U8 League won fifth place and the Bloomfield Pride U10 won third place.
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