Community

Big Money Up For Grabs, Park Forest Baseball Hopes To Get Its Share


Park Forest Baseball
Park Forest Baseball players hope for part of the grant. (Photo: ENEWSPF)

Park Foreset, IL-(ENEWSPF)- For fifteen youth sports organizations demonstrating their commitment to responsibility on and off the baseball field, Liberty Mutual Insurance will soon make a very memorable contribution, in the amount of a $2,500 Responsible Sportsâ„¢ Community Grant. Park Forest Baseball is hoping to be one of them.

Community Grants are part of Liberty Mutual’s Responsible Sports program, which is an ongoing effort championing and celebrating responsibility in youth sports. This community-based program offers meaningful, easy-to-use educational resources for youth sports parents and coaches, including access to on-the-field game and practice preparation tools, as well as self-paced online coursework filled with learning tools, videos, and topics addressing youth sports issues.

“The Liberty Mutual Responsible Sports program targets many of the issues we see happening at youth sporting events by shining a positive light on what it means to be a responsible coach and a responsible sports-parent. Beyond that, Liberty Mutual Insurance is making a significant financial contribution to support the efforts of local organizations like Park Forest Baeball,” said Greg Gordon vice president of Consumer Marketing at Liberty Mutual Insurance. The Responsible Sports program, including the Community Grants, comes at a crucial time for communities like ours. Like other communities across the U.S., our own youth sports programs are under pressure from increasing numbers of participants, limited volunteer activity and mounting program management and administration costs. The Responsible Sports program provides access to valuable resources and assets that can ensure our organizations thrive even under challenging circumstances.

“Park Forest Baseball provides a great opportunity to all the girls and boys to learn the skills of baseball while also learning life lessons. Participating in baseball promotes exercise, confidence, the ability to adapt to different situations, and the chance to learn teamwork. Normally one thinks of youth baseball as being played in the summer. We, however, want to be able to provide the opportunity to continue to teach the sport, provide off-season clinics, and conditioning for these athletes. We in Park Forest Baseball realize our children deserve a safe environment with trained supervision to participate in these things. It is our goal to construct an indoor facility to allow us this opportunity. This grant would be the start of raising funds for this endeavor,” states Alan Joens, Sr., Chairman of Park Forest Baseball.

Park Forest Baseball will be entering its 62nd season of competition in the 2013 season. This is due in large part to the many dedicated volunteers who have made this program successful. Currently, the program serves over 170 players from the immediate area, with players beginning at 4 years of age.

Park Forest Baseball is registered for the Responsible Sports program. They are encouraging individual community members to complete one of the self-paced online courses (Responsible Coaching and Responsible Sport Parenting) and take a 10-question review quiz. Every completed quiz is worth one point. The organizations that earn the most points at the end of the grant period, in this case November 30, 2012, in each of the three divisions will earn one of the 15 grants. Youth sports organizations (club programs, park and recreation departments, etc.) are competing for one of 10 $2,500 grants in two divisions, large and small, based upon the number of players. And five school athletic programs will earn a $2,500 grant, for a total of 15 Responsible Sports Community Grants to be awarded this Fall. The more people each registered organization gets to complete the courses, the greater its chances of winning. Complete details on the grants as well as the qualifying self-paced courses are available through the official program website at ResponsibleSports.com.

To show your support, visit ResponsibleSports.com/Grant.

“Helping people live safer, more secure lives” since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and fifth-largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2009 direct written premium. Liberty Mutual Insurance ranks 71st on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2009 revenue. The company has over 45,000 employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world. The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual Insurance (libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance. The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 13,000 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.

“Helping people live safer, more secure lives” since 1912, Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is a diversified global insurer and fifth-largest property and casualty insurer in the U.S. based on 2009 direct written premium. Liberty Mutual Insurance ranks 71st on the Fortune 500 list of largest U.S. corporations, based on 2009 revenue. The company has over 45,000 employees located in more than 900 offices throughout the world. The eighth-largest auto and home insurer in the U.S., Liberty Mutual Insurance (libertymutual.com) sells full lines of coverage for automobile, homeowners, valuable possessions, personal liability, and individual life insurance. The company is an industry leader in affinity partnerships, offering car and home insurance to employees and members of more than 13,000 companies, credit unions, professional associations and alumni groups.


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