Ford leadership class to complete ball fields

Scott Swanson

The latest Ford Institute Leadership Program class has taken on the challenge of completing the Roy Johnston Field baseball and softball complex at Hawthorne School.

The class – or cohort, as is called – is the fourth such group to meet in east Linn County under the auspices of the Ford Institute Leadership Program funded by the Roseburg-based Ford Family Foundation, which is the legacy of Kenneth and Hallie Ford, founders of Roseburg Forest Products.

Joann McQueary of Sweet Home, one of the trainers for the program, said that it trains local leaders in rural communities throughout Oregon and in Siskiyou County, Calif. over a five-year period. East Linn County has actually exceeded that five-year period, but the foundation has pledged more extensive training here, she said.

“They have promised training every few years for us for perpetuity,” said McQueary, who has been involved in the program since its start in Linn County. She said some 150 people have received the leadership development training, which consists of 48 class hours held over four weekends. The classes focus on developing individuals’ community leadership abilities through training that emphasizes interactive and facilitative format rather than lectures.

After the training, which focuses on working with various personality types, group decision making, asset mapping and otherwise utilizing and maximizing what a community has to offer, each class selects a project to work on together.

This cohort decided last year to finish Roy Johnston Field, long the venue for local youth baseball and softball leagues operated by the Boys and Girls Club. Group members presented their project at a luncheon at the Sweet Home High School Library Friday, Jan. 25.

The fields, constructed more than 30 years ago, were in rough shape in recent years and last year the Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Santiam, with support of the Sweet Home School District, which actually owns the property, decided to shut the fields down for rehabilitation work.

Volunteers have done some $60,000 worth of work on grading and equipment repair and installation, drainage and irrigation, new grass and trees. The Boys and Girls Club has donations committed to replace four blacktop areas.

Cohort member Will Summers of Albany, who works extensively in east Linn County communities and thus was selected to be part of this year’s 25-member cohort, who mostly hail from Sweet Home, Lebanon and Brownsville, said the group plans to purchase and install new mounds and bases, and build four dugouts to make the fields usable this spring. Other possibilities include fencing and backstop improvements and a walking track around the complex.

He said more than 300 Sweet Home-area youngsters participate in baseball and softball programs on the fields during the spring and summer, and 100-plus more play football and soccer on the fields in the fall.

Summers also said that the improved facility could be used to host baseball and softball tournaments that could draw 200-plus visitors to Sweet Home for a weekend event.

“We need community support to get this done,” he said, noting that the Ford Foundation will match up to $5,000 in local donations. The cohort plans to raise $12,000 in cash or in-kind donations to complete the park in time for the baseball and softball openers in late May.

“In-kind needs are such things as labor from contractors for building the dug-outs and pouring concrete, and building materials,” he said.

Tax-deductible donations may be made to the Boys and Girls Club of the Greater Santiam, he said.

Project Manager Larry Horton, who retired two years ago as superintendent of the Sweet Home School District, said participation in the cohort has built his commitment to the local community. He said that, though he has been through “lots of leadership training” over the years, he enjoyed being in a group that ranged from people like himself with extensive experience to some who have had little to no training in leadership.

Hannah Mather, a Sweet Home High School senior, who was the youngest cohort member, has participated in the program with her mother Heidy Mather.

She said one thing she learned was the importance of relationships.

“The more people you know, the more they will help you in your life,” Hannah said, adding that she’s also learned the importance of being an experienced public speaker.

“It helps you grow as a person,” she said of the training program. “You learn how to deal with different personalities, why people react the way they do, different leadership styles.”

Member Ken Bronson, manager of the Sweet Home Senior Center and the Linn Shuttle bus system, said participation in the cohort really drove home the importance of collaboration between the three communities – “working together.”

“This project will benefit all three communities – in particular, the youth of those communities,” he said.

Lebanon attorney Rachel Kittson-Maqatish, who lives in Sweet Home, noted that the Ford family paid for her education to become a lawyer, which she said encouraged her to participate in the cohort.

She said her participation also drove home the value of inter-community cooperation.

“We learned how we’re individuals, how we’re put together like a really cool puzzle,” she said. “Rather than expecting everyone to be exactly like you, it’s really about bringing out the best in other individuals beause they’re different than you.”

MaQadish, whose two sons play youth baseball, said she particularly likes the Roy Johnston project.

“It’s a wonderful opportunity to bridge the communities together and share our strengths with one another,” she said. “We have individuals from Brownsville, Sweet Home and Lebanon come together to work on this. The kids on the field won’t only be Sweet Home kids. Lebanon and Brownsville kids will play there too.

“We can see what Lebanon has and build off that. What they have has value and we can learn a lot from that. That says a lot.

“Plus, I want the kids to play ball on a nice field. I want them to feel good about the community they live in, to appreciate it.”

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