$10,000 WIN Waste Innovations Contribution Helps Make Batting Facility a Reality

Baseball and softball players in the Hopewell-Loudon schools take their hitting seriously. But until recently, getting time in the batting cage during the offseason was difficult, as they had to share space in the old gym with other sports teams.

No more. Thanks to the community, a new $30,000 batting facility — with $10,000 donated by WIN Waste Innovations — is giving Hopewell-Loudon kids K-12 (plus the Bascom Baseball and Softball Association) an opportunity to practice year-round.

“We had some things set up in the old gym across the road, but during basketball season, or wrestling season when other sports were using the space, it was difficult to find time for hitting,” says Dawn Bour, a past president of the Hopewell-Loudon Athletic Boosters, whom varsity baseball head coach Tony Swanagan asked to lead the fundraising effort.

Bour described the facility as a 64-by-30-by-12-foot enclosed pole barn, with a turf field. Constructed on the site of some old tennis courts, finding space to build it wasn’t a problem. What at first seemed more difficult was the price tag.

However, as the call for funds went out, it soon became apparent that the entire community was behind the project.

“It was great how the community came together,” Bour says. “We started raising funds the beginning of December, then ordered some of the wood when prices started going up, but then we had to wait on a building permit. But the same day we got the permit, Tony was out there starting work.”

She says many in the community, from former athletes to business leaders, contributed their time and skills in addition to money.

Bour says she approached WIN Waste Innovations due to Sunny Farms’ past support for the community over the years.

“When I was baseball boosters president, Sunny Farms would support our school and was usually one of our biggest donors,” she says.

The $10,000 provided this time represents the single largest contribution to the batting facility to date, she says. “We really appreciate their support for these kids and their partnership with the schools.”