The ballpark at Kettle and Stony Point First Nation will receive improvements thanks to a $90,000 grant provided through the Jays Care Foundation's Field of Dreams program.
Chief Kimberly Bressette said it was overwhelming and exciting to learn the news. She called the funding "a gift" that will support future generations.
"It's a down payment on the quality of the future of our children and we as parents need to invest in our children, support them, empower them," Bressette said. "Sports are proven to assist in many skills, boost confidence, and keep them out of the court system so this is really exciting for our community."
Bressette said the investment will fund new fencing, a new backstop, new dugouts, and improved landscaping.
"The community will most likely be putting in for the bleachers as well," she said.
Bressette said upgrades will likely be completed by next year.
The field is currently used by one U13 team and by community members for family events.
"We're hoping to, with this upgrade, be able to get more children involved and it's really important that the parents become involved as coaches because we don't have too many volunteers," Bressette said. "There were a lot of teams prior to COVID and over the years there were a lot of volunteers and they retired out of their coaching positions."
Before the pandemic, Bressette said there were about four teams.
To celebrate the grant funding, a group of students gathered at the field Wednesday morning for an impromptu softball game.
Grade 7 student Kylee Wolfe said she is "really excited" to see the upcoming improvements.
"It's kind of hard to play sometimes when it's (the field) not the best," she said.
Wolfe said her favourite position to play is pitcher or shortstop but the game in general is special as well.
"My favourite part is probably just making new friends and meeting new people," Wolfe said.
Kettle and Stony Point is one of 14 grant recipients for this year's Field of Dreams initiative. Strathroy and Stratford were also named grant recipients.
