It is an unseasonably warm, sunny January day as Girsh Park executive director Ryan Harrington strolls past Elings Fields, the home of Dos Pueblos Little League, AYSO soccer, summer camps and various after-school programs. In less than two short months, scores of excited Little Leaguers will converge on the site to open another great season of baseball.
Dos Pueblos Little League’s Opening Day on March 6 will have a particularly poignant meaning, as it always does, for the league’s Challenger Division, which is a program designed specifically for children with special needs. The division was formed in 2004, thanks to the efforts of local mom Retta Slay, whose son, Keaton, has Down syndrome. After learning there weren’t many options for a special-needs child wanting to participate in Little League, Slay took matters into her own hands, and with the help and support of DPLL officials, was able to start a Challenger Division, one of many nationwide.
What began with six special-needs children in 2004 has absolutely taken off, boasting about 80 players in 2009.
On such a beautiful January day, one can almost hear the cheers of the ecstatic parents who, come March, will pack the bleachers to cheer on their children. Harrington, however, has a heavy heart as he looks out across the freshly mown grass of the park’s three baseball diamonds.
The nonprofit Girsh Park bought the 13 acres now named Elings Fields in 2002, but there has been one major challenge to using the facility: “There are no bathrooms adjacent the fields,” said Harrington. “We use port-a-potties because the nearest bathrooms are about 300 yards away.”
For the children in the Challenger Division, this has posed a serious problem.
“We have at least half a dozen kids in wheelchairs playing in the Challenger Division,” said Harrington, “and the port-o-potties are tough for them to use.”
According to Harrington, when the fields were originally constructed, they were never intended to be permanent; expectations were that the fields would be relocated within a few years. But the future site plans fell through and the park purchased the 13 acres on the west end of the expanse, making the baseball fields permanent. Because of the cost, the Foundation for Girsh Park board was unable to allocate enough funds necessary to build restrooms. At the time, the Challenger Division was not yet in existence and the absence of nearby restrooms was a nuisance the other programs accepted.
Eight years later, the need for a permanent solution to this problem has become evident.
“It really poses a challenge for any youngster standing on second base and in need of a visit to the restroom,” Harrington said. “Sometimes by the time they get to the restroom, it’s too late.
“You can’t ask a special-needs child to go 300 yards away to use the restroom,” he continued. “Even with assistance, it is just too far for many of these young kids to go.”
A couple of years ago, Dos Pueblos Little League officials approached the Girsh Park board about installing restrooms near the fields and the league raised $10,000 toward the effort. Unfortunately, building a permanent restroom, including extending the sewer line that runs under the land, and acquiring all the proper permits, would cost upward of $300,000, according to Harrington. Even for a basic bathroom trailer model, which is separated into men’s and women’s sides, and can be fitted with handicapped ramps, costs can start at $80,000. For Harrington, it is simply a question of limited resources, especially amid a flagging economy.
“As a nonprofit, we have to do all our own fundraising through grant writing, appeals and fundraising events just to keep the park running,” Harrington said. “We have a $400,000-plus budget and it is very difficult to run a capital campaign in addition to operational support.
“Over the past several years, we have run some very successful campaigns,” he added. “Just last year, we were able to raise $1.2 million to build a much-needed synthetic turf soccer field. But there are only so many times you can go to the same foundations to ask for funding. We are simply not in a position to launch another big capital campaign right now.”
The city of Goleta contributes $100,000 annually to help fund park maintenance, but even with a skeleton crew (Harrington is the only full-time employee), that money is all used for routine maintenance and upkeep. Fundraising, user fees and an endowment draw make up the rest of the budget for the park, which is open year-round.
With Opening Day looming, Harrington is working on finding a solution so DPLL, AYSO and all of the other youth programs at Girsh Park will no longer have to go without the use of a restroom. He maintains hope that someone will step forward for this worthy cause.
“We are looking for anybody who is willing to help us out with funding,” said an optimistic Harrington. “These kids are an amazing inspiration and they deserve to have their basic, fundamental needs met when they come to play here.”
For more information about Girsh Park’s efforts to come up with a restroom solution, or to make a donation, e-mail Harrington at rharrington@girshpark.org or call 805.968.2773 x3.
— Kevin McFadden is a Noozhawk contributor.