When the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Club, led by Jake Kerr, Jeff Mooney, and Andy Dunn set out to develop our Foundation, the goal was simple; help as many of our local youth find self-confidence, hope, improved health, and a skill set that will help not just on a baseball diamond, but in life.
What began simply as a vision to provide underprivileged youth with an opportunity has now become much more. The Vancouver Canadians Baseball Foundation (VCBF) has already begun the process of helping local children grow into student/athletes who can now focus on succeeding instead of concerning themselves with elements that are usually out of their control.
From helping a young child onto a baseball diamond perhaps for the first time, right through to helping a bright-minded student find a way to continue their post-secondary education, the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Foundation is committed to our community and wants to ensure that your involvement helps redefine a child's perspective about life both on and off the field.
The Vancouver Canadians Baseball Foundation was developed with a vision of reaching children from all across the Lower Mainland and provide those in need with four key goals. We wanted to provide hope and opportunity through a number of different initiatives that you can read about below. From the creation of our Vancouver Canadians Baseball League that has now connected more than 2,500 hundred children with the game of baseball through to working from start-to-finish on the creation of Western Canada's first fully-accessible, synthetic baseball field specifically designed for children with physical and/or cognitive challenges - we have been determined to not just open the doors to our historic stadium located in the heart of Vancouver - but stand with these bright-minded children to provide guidance and security even when the world can ask too much from them.
Here's a brief look at what we have been doing with your generous donations.
Each year, the Vancouver Canadians Baseball Foundation in cooperation with The Cape Group will award two (2) baseball organizations within the Greater Vancouver District with a grant of $50,000 to refurbish the facility that they utilize within their community for amateur baseball.
Applicants must meet a number of criteria in order to be eligible for consideration. Please read the guidelines below to ensure your project meets the necessary criteria:
a) Self-development of youth increasing access to the sport of baseball
b) Developing life skills of all those who have access to the facility
c) Facility upgrades to allow for the inclusion of all youth to utilize the space regardless of ability
The Change-Up Project proposals may include, but are not limited to:
a) The building of new infrastructure benefitting the league and local community
b) Improving existing spaces to increase programming capacity, overall usage, safety, accessibility and inclusiveness for all participants.
The Change-Up Project Strike Zone:
Our goal is to provide assistance to local youth organizations that aspire to provide players of all abilities with an environment that combines inclusiveness with fair play. Whether your organization is looking to improve its playing surface or perhaps refurbish a concession or worn down dugouts and/or bleachers, The Change-Up Project was created to help local organizations positively impact their local community by creating a safe place for their youth to further develop themselves and baseball skills.