The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
WIND UP, LET IT GO
Supporters come out for roomy family picnic, celebrity softball benefitting The LCADA Way
Fall baseball supported a good cause when 300 enthusiasts came out for The LCADA Way’s first Diamond Day Field Party.
On Sept. 19, Crushers Stadium in Avon hosted supporters, their families and a celebrity softball game with area “famous” and “not so famous” personalities and agency staff.
It was a way to help the alcohol and drug addiction services agency, while following health precautions against large indoor public gatherings due to the novel coronavirus pandemic disrupting the world.
“There’s plenty of room for people to be able to space out and be socially distant,” said Dan Haight, president and CEO of The LCADA Way.
“There’s plenty of room for people to be able to space out and be socially distant.”
— Dan Haight, president and CEO of The LCADA Way
The event sold out 300 tickets and replaced The LCADA Way’s annual Pearls of Wisdom Benefit and Recognition Dinner, usually held in October.
That event was canceled this year due to the spread of COVID-19. The LCADA Way plans to bring back the Pearls of Wisdom banquet to mark the agency’s 40th anniversary in 2021.
In March, The LCADA Way began using telehealth with its customers and partners. For those without computer access, staff would go and help, Haight said.
Staff will integrate a hybrid model with telehealth and in-person care. Usually The LCADA Way serves about 2,800 people a year, but the current customer roster has dropped to about 30 percent of what it would be, Haight said.
With services slowed down, overdose deaths and suicides are up. The March business shut-downs affected courts, which in turn affected motivation for some people to seek help, Haight said.
As the pandemic subsides, The LCADA Way staff are expecting a surge in the need for services, with some people relapsing due to stay-at-home time and federal stimulus money, Haight said.
In the meantime, the Sept. 19 event was meant to be fun.
The LCADA way supporters joined for hamburgers, hot dogs, pulled pork sliders, pizza, donuts and other treats. There were raffles and a silent raffle to support The LCADA Way.
Youths were welcome and many of them took the opportunity to run the bases and test their pitching speeds as measured by a radar gun.
Budding pitchers included Henry Hunt, 7, of Avon. He attended with parents Michelle and Joe, and brothers Jonathan, 4, and Ethan, 18 months.
“This is great. We don’t get on the field much,” Joe Hunt said.
“They were excited to come here,” Michelle Hunt said.
Katie Holston of Grafton, a pharmacist for Discount Drug Mart, an event sponsor, said she and her colleagues have supported The LCADA Way through its gala.
For the Diamond Day Field Party, her colleague Todd Jaros was to play on the Not So Famous team. Holston said the gala was “a blast,” but it was her first time at the Crushers Stadium with son Colton, 9.
Ashley Skvor of LaGrange, a prevention educator for The LCADA Way, came with her children, Bentley, 8, and Lexie, 12, and her mother, Stevie Truman.
The family played catch on the field before watching the celebrity game and “absolutely” would return to the diamond afterward, Ashley Skvor said.
“He likes to throw curveballs,” Truman said.
“And spitballs,” Bentley said. “And fastballs.”
Bentley said his secret to his fastball is easy: “Throw it fast.”
In the softball game, the Not So Famous squad topped the Famous team 4-1 over 2 ½ innings, with the bottom on the third inning scratched.