News

Below is a message from our Executive Director Gary Rogaczewski which was also included with our 2021 newsletter mailout. We all hope our 2021 season will go ahead as planned but some things may be out of our control. Please watch both the website and Facebook page for updates. Thank you and Happy New Year! To all Parents and families: As all know, 2020 has been a particularly difficult year. We were unable to have a season due to the COVID pandemic. While this continues to be a challenging time, the newsletter enclosed includes many of our usual instructions and information. We will open registration as in past years on January 1, 2021.  We hope the situation improves and allows for a 2021 season. We ask that you proceed with registering your child in anticipation of playing the league as scheduled in 2021. As we approach the coming season, we will return to the guiding principle of the league which is to allow our athletes to play baseball. We may not be able to have some of extra things all have grown to enjoy but hopefully, we will be able to have the players on the baseball field playing their games. The following are some of the different challenges that Paul, Shelly, and I will attempt to work through:   Opening Day – June 5, 2021 This year we will be celebrating our 15th season. Last year we were unable to play due to the pandemic. We have tentative plans to make this a special day. Hopefully the COVID situation will be sufficiently under control for this to be a reality.   Registration Open January 1 All players and volunteers must re-register for the new season. Regardless of the current situation it is very important that players be registered. There is a great deal of planning and organizing to be done in preparation for the season. We have adjusted the age limit and will allow any player who would have “aged” out in 2020 to play this year.   Special events and concessions The ability to have the concessions open as well as hold special nights will depend on the status of the community. Grandparent’s week and corporate concession nights are two examples of these.   Rules and Expectations We will be working with the Miracle League board as well as researching the best guidelines to follow for the coming season. It is expected that areas of concern may be the need to wear masks and the importance of social distancing. We plan to reach out to other leagues and medical experts to help with these issues. However, whatever rules and guidelines are implemented, they will be enforced for the safety of all participants.   Cleaning of equipment We will be cleaning and disinfecting all equipment used by the players before each game.   Volunteers and Buddies This is an area we will need to work through. In the past we have always worked to provide a buddy for the players. This effort will continue with communications at schools and in the business sector. However, we may need to enlist more family members to serve as the buddy for their child. Parents and siblings living in the same household may be more appropriate buddies due to social distancing guidelines in the community.        

We know you've all been anxiously awaiting news on whether or not there will be a 2020 Miracle League baseball season played in Green Bay this summer and we greatly appreciate how patient you all have been. Unfortunately, even though we all hoped for a different outcome, the decision has been made not to proceed with our scheduled baseball league this summer. Due to the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19 virus and the increased risks associated with public gatherings, our Board of Directors voted unanimously to postpone the 2020 season until June 5th, 2021. The decision to not have our players participate this season was largely based  on the increased risk associated for those with underlying medical conditions (the majority of our players are considered high risk) and on our inability to implement workable social distancing at the ballpark. The health and safety of our players, our volunteers, league supports and families is and will always be the number one priority of the league. It was not an easy decision for our board to make but a necessary one to help ensure both our players and every one else involved in our league isn't put at risk at the ballpark. The use of masks, hand sanitizers and increased equipment sanitizing were discussed but as many of you know, the vast majority of our players don't particularity enjoy wearing their helmets. Attempting to force our players to wear masks, social distance and repeatedly sanitize would be very traumatic for some of them not to mention the difficulty some may encounter working with a buddy wearing a mask. For safety reasons and in the best interests of everyone involved with the Miracle League of Green Bay our 15th season will now commence June 5th, 2021. We hope to see you all back at that time. Players who would've normally aged out at the end of this season will be able to participate in the 2021 season. **Teams, Coaches and the Jerseys ordered for this season will remain the same for the 2021 season. You will however still be required to register your child again beginning January 1st 2021 even though they were registered in 2020. Our database doesn't have the capability to carry over player registrations from one year to the next.** Gary, Paul and I will remain available to answer any questions you may have about the change in schedule. We appreciate your understanding and look forward to seeing all of you back at the ball park once we reach a point where it's safe for everyone.  We'll miss seeing each of you this season but look forward to seeing all of our players back on the field again in the near future. Take care and have a safe and fun summer. Sincerely,

"SEASON 15 IS POSTPONED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE." Hello Miracle League families and friends. Although our season has been postponed we are still holding out hope for a later start once this horrible virus is gone. Our players, their families and our volunteers are our number one priority and baseball will have to wait until it's safe for everyone. Our board of directors are having a teleconference tomorrow to discuss our available options. Gary, Paul and I continue to stay up to date on the progression of COVID-19 and will follow all recommendations set out by the CDC to ensure we all remain healthy and safe. Our player jerseys have been ordered and we continue to prepare as usual so we are prepared once news of the "Stay at home" order has been lifted. That being said, however we decide to proceed will not be immediate. We want to allow some time to pass once the quarantine is lifted to see if people start becoming infected again. Safety first and until we feel confidant that all of you will be safe from COVID-19 at the ballpark, we'll remain on hold. I'll update with any changes as soon as I learn them. Thank you all for your patience, we hope to see you all again soon.

https://evers.wi.gov/Documents/COVID19/EMO12-SaferAtHome.pdf Good Afternoon Miracle league of Green Bay Friends and Families. As our nation continues to battle this horrible virus, I want to assure you that Gary, Paul and I continue to monitor and adhere to the guidelines set out by the Government for the safety and well being of all of you, especially our players. This will most likely mean that our 2020 schedule will change. It does not mean that we'll cancel the 2020 season completely. There will come a time when the Government and CDC deem it safe for all of us to get back to our normal activities. Children will return to school, parents will return to work and community events will once again resume. Once it's been determined that the danger of contracting this virus has passed we will review all of our available options and plan accordingly. Options we've discussed to date have been having a later start date, possibly shortening the season or as a last resort, hosting something like a weekend marathon event. Unfortunately, nothing can be determined until the threat of this virus goes away. Worst case scenario, if it ends up being too late in the summer to play our weekly games, we'd like at minimum to host some form of 15th Anniversary event. Whether it be a marathon weekend as previously mentioned or just a one day event. Our players will still be given the opportunity to participate in baseball. They will be assigned to their teams as normal, receive their jerseys and hats, have team photos taken and receive a few additional surprises as well. We fully intend to implement additional safety guidelines at the ballpark and continue to discuss ways to achieve this. I'll continue to update as new information becomes available.

Hello to all of our Miracle League families and friends. As you're all aware the Coronavirus has changed life as we all know it. Gary, Paul and I continue to hold on to the hope that our 2020 season will go ahead, even if it means having a later start date. There is under 11 weeks until our season is scheduled to begin and as more information about the quarantine timeline becomes available we'll discuss our available options. Our first hope is that all of our families make it through this crisis safely and that it will only be a matter of a few short weeks before we can all feel safe again. We hope everyone who can, will self quarantine and take all of the necessary precautions recommended, allowing this horrible virus to dissipate. This is the one time where no one can afford to question the validity of this virus before taking precautions. The lives of our players, their families and everyone else in our community depend on everyone working together and supporting each other through these next few weeks. Remain diligent when it comes to hand washing, soap and water can help prevent this virus from spreading. Self quarantine, the less people you're exposed to the better your chances are. Isolate yourself if you're sick, underlying conditions put you even more at risk. Watch for updates and follow the recommendations, it's not just about you, there are innocent lives at stake. It's hard to believe and unfortunate that in-spite of all of the announcements documenting confirmed cases there are still people who don't believe this virus is as deadly as it's being made out to be. My question to them as someone who has an extremely high risk of not surviving if I contract this virus, is " Why put others at risk because of your doubt? Gloat later if you end up being right but for now it's time to think of others. " Which leads me to the other major concern for many of our families, their lack of supplies on hand. All I can say is I'm sorry, it's not right but clearly there are some very selfish people in the community. In my mind the people who chose to hoard all of the cleaning, sanitizing and bathroom supplies are guilty of putting innocent children, our medically fragile and our elderly at greater risk and should be ashamed of their behavior. Like many of you, I have not been able to find a single bottle of Hand Sanitizer, Clorox Wipes or other disinfecting cleaners. I have reached out to a few of our local retailers in an effort to see if they can set aside a special time where people with disabilities or parents of children with disabilities can shop for these items before others have an opportunity to hoard them all. I'll make an announcement if one of these retail locations agree to accommodate my request. In addition you can reach out to your child's Care Managers, Brown County and their doctors for ways to obtain these supplies. A couple of helpful tips for those who haven't thought about it: You can safely freeze Milk, Cream, Butter and Yogurt. Flour, yeast, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda go a long way and you can save space in your freezer by making buns, bread and pizza dough. Just an idea and one that works great for our family. Stay safe everyone, I'll update as often as I can. My first priority however will be keeping my own family safe and healthy and most important will be my daughter with HLHS. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/index.html