The FishHawk Wolves travel baseball teams play baseball but also perform service in their community.
How much cajoling did it take to convince a bunch of baseball players to don pink jerseys and shoelaces for an entire month of games?
Not a lot, because they were showing their support of breast cancer research and raising $1,114 for The Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
There is a lot more than baseball happening at the ball field these days.
The group, the Wolves P.A.C.K. (Players Always Contributing Kindness), is the service league of the FishHawk Wolves travel baseball teams, which consists of seven teams ranging in age from 8-14.
The Wolves perform several service projects each season. Past projects have included a canned food drive for Ministry of Hope in Lithia that received more than 900 food items and more than $1,000 in cash donations. One team even went trick-or-treating for canned goods last Halloween.
The service group was spearheaded by mom Lora Kachler, who hoped to foster a philanthropic spirit in the boys. ”Our teams have amassed a room full of trophies but I also wanted them to learn good character,” she said.
Jimmy Osting, director of the Ostingers Baseball Academy (OBA) FishHawk Wolves travel baseball program, said the service group helps the players understand that there’s more to life than just baseball.
The group’s most recent projects include donating their time to play buddy baseball with special needs athletes from the Challenger League at Bloomingdale Little League. Each player is paired with a “buddy” to assist the player as needed.
In April, the team began a diaper drive for Blessed Bottoms, an organization that collects diapers for families that need them. Flyers were passed around neighborhoods and collection boxes displayed at the baseball fields.
In June, the Wolves P.A.C.K. will be hard at work at a “Take Pride in Your Fields” day, where they will clean up the local baseball park and help out with field maintenance.
“My hope is that our players will be known for doing good things off as well as on the field,” said Kachler.
For more information about the FishHawk Wolves, visit https://ostingbaseball.com/Wolves/.
