So, who is the field for?

Sparrow's Superstars. A Lansing T-ball team for physically and mentally handicapped children that are treated at Sparrow Hospital.

Right now, the team is playing on ballparks in Lansing that are sometimes too bumpy, sometimes too hard to access and certainly unfriendly to their needs. They hardly notice, though--or complain. They're just happy to be hitting the ball, running the bases and pounding their mitts like regular old players.

And that's what makes the field so worth it. These five, six, seven and even 13-year-olds wouldn't feel slighted in the least if they didn't get their own grand and expensive field. They're just excited that its happening.

I got to talk to two of the players at the spaghetti dinner, 5-year-old Sonya Webster and 13-year-old Katie Frayer, pictured below (taken by my lovely photographer, Audrey Aquino).

Sonya Webster, 5

Katie Frayer, 13

Sonya has cerebral palsy, and Katie has arthrogryposis, and really these pictures say it all. Sonya was just as you'd expect a 5 year old to be, precocious, antsy and curious. And Katie, young though she looks, was mature and collected, and most of all comfortable with herself.

I didn't get to meet a lot of the team, though. Like Ethan Fox, the Butterfly Child, who was featured in a Lansing State Journal video by Ryan Loew. If you have the time, it's really worth it to watch.

A couple of weeks ago, I met a group of extraordinary people at the Hannah Community Center.

The Spartan Competitive Cheer team was hosting a spaghetti dinner and silent auction there in one of the banquet halls as a fundraiser, but instead of just raising money for themselves, they chose to donate 10 percent of it to a group called Case Cares.

Sounds pretty boring, I know. That's what I thought too going into it. But Case Cares is a nonprofit branch of Case Credit Union dedicated to "making a difference for those in need." Specifically, their goal right now is to build a "Miracle Field," (a baseball field for physically handicapped children) with the help of the Miracle League in Valley Park in Dewitt Township. It's supposed to look something like this one in Alabama:

http://www.miracleleague.com/photogallery.html

But you're probably still not thoroughly convinced that this is at all interesting. And it isn't...yet. Because it's who this field is for that makes it significant. It's for people you'd look at twice in a restaurant, but might not think about for the rest of your life. People you feel a passing sympathy for. People you take for granted.

Find out in the next blog post.