The Mishawaka parks department is confident that if they build a baseball field for people with disabilities, they will come.
It’s called a Miracle Field, a synthetic playing surface that allows kids and adults to play America’s pastime, running the bases with a wheelchair or walker.
The Mishawaka Parks Foundation wants to build one at Normain Park. Parks Superintendent Phil Blasko says they’re 85% toward their $1.75 million goal for the project’s first phase. That calls for building the Miracle Field, another softball field to replace the one there now, and a new restroom and plaza area. They also plan to improve the park’s existing playground and splash pad.
Advocates for the disabled have tried this and failed before. In the early 2000s Little League officials in South Bend wanted to build such a field at Chet Waggoner Little League but could never raise the money. But Blasko says the parks foundation, before going public this summer with its fund-raising campaign, secured support from area nonprofits that work with disabilities.
"We have a lot of momentum behind us," Blasko said, "and I think more importantly, after we build this we're going to have enough partners that we're going to be able to thrive and host the leagues, and have enough programming to go along with it."
