Elsipogtog First Nation looks to fund ballfield repairs with Jays Care grant

Elsipogtog First Nation's ball diamonds may be guarded by torn fencing but kids in the community still share laughs as they hit dingers or sprint around the bases.

Soon though, they'll get upgrades to the facilities thanks to the Field of Dreams program of the Jays Care Foundation. Elsipogtog, about 55 kilometres north of Moncton, is among 15 recipients sharing $1.5 million in baseball infrastructure funding.

The program provides funding to design, refurbish or build spaces to play baseball and is the charitable arm of the Toronto Blue Jays major league baseball team.

Haylen Augustine, 11, and six of his friends have spent the last couple of days at the field after school. They say it's a great way for them to hang out.

"We have a lot of fun and we always get all our friends to come out," he said.

Haylen said it'd be nice to hear there's going to be some upgrades at the baseball diamonds.

"It would be a lot better because these are old," said Haylen.

Along with the torn fencing, there's graffiti on the dugout benches, and the dugout roofs are damaged. Both diamonds need new bases, too. 

Organizers in the First Nation plan to make those repairs and upgrade the field lights, so they can have night games. 

"We were scared that the kids were going to get hurt on the fence because fences were all ripped up, so we didn't really have them out that much," said Kylie Francis, sports and recreation manager.

"But it's important that we're going to have a safe place for them to play, to learn and to grow."

Francis and Barry Augustine, the local arena manager who also maintains the community's diamonds, helped to put together the winning bid. 

Augustine believes it's been well over 10 years since the field had any major upgrades.

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