HENRICO COUNTY, Va. -- Students, teachers, and volunteers from across Henrico County celebrated Challenger Day this week at the Tuckahoe Park Baseball Complex.
"Challenger Day, which began as an offshoot of the Challenger Division of Little League Baseball in 2012, introduces the fundamentals of baseball and softball to students with physical and cognitive disabilities from more than 30 classrooms for a fun, inviting and inclusive day," a statement from Henrico Schools explained. "Volunteers from HCPS and various partnering businesses and organizations assisted in making the day a hit for these students, along with their teachers and families."
CBS 6 spoke with a variety of people at the event:
"There's not a whole lot of things that we can do with our kids with disabilities, so it's nice to have other kids that are in the same position and their families," parent Tina Sharpe said.
"This is for kids in Henrico County with special needs to come out experience a game of baseball and just to have some fun play in the dirt, run the bases, hit the ball a little bit," volunteer Rob Reid said.
"We'll have anywhere from 200 to 500 students out here at any given point, under certain circumstances, maybe they don't have the opportunity to participate in sports like this, and so setting the stage and setting the environment for them that supports them," Damon Jiggetts, Henrico Education Foundation Chief Executive Officer, said. "It just makes my heart smile. And if we're doing things that are gonna make God smile, that's what we're here to do."
"To give to these kids, to see the joy that they have in this. There's no better feeling so to be able to do this, help them out. This is what we're supposed to be doing," a volunteer named Brian said.
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