Heartland Community College is partnering with the Town of Normal's Parks and Recreation Department to operate Miracle League Field, a recreational venue for children and adults with disabilities.
The venue opened in 2015 and is part of The Miracle League of Central Illinois. It is located behind the Corn Crib stadium at 1000 W. Raab Road in Normal on HCC's campus. Baseball games are held there on Sundays.
Per the new partnership, the town handle the scheduling of events and league operations, while Heartland handles maintenance at the venue going forward. Miracle League donated the field and surrounding facilities to Heartland in June.
“The opportunities offered by the Miracle League for accessible recreation are closely aligned with the Heartland mission of providing accessible, equitable and innovative opportunities to enrich our community. We’re proud to partner with the Town of Normal and the Miracle League to secure the present and future of this wonderful opportunity for individuals to play, learn and grow,” Heartland President Keith Cornille said in a news release.
This isn’t the first time Normal Parks and Rec has worked with The Miracle League. The two previously partnered on registration in 2023 to attract more players and volunteers.
Doug Damery, the town's Parks and Rec director, said that 2023 partnership was quite successful, adding things will likely stay the same at Miracle League Field with the new partnership — but there are still new ideas percolating.
“We’re going to look for other ways to use the facility,” Damery said. “We’re going to look for other ways to reach out to the special population groups. Also, they’ll look for other opportunities to use the facility — T-ball, pee wee ball, Wiffle ball — those types of programs that fit into a place like that.”
Damery said expanding Miracle League Field’s offerings is a goal for the town moving forward.
“The facility is pretty underutilized. The Miracle League of Central Illinois board saw that it was underutilized and felt like we would be in a better position to help expand it,” he said.
Partnering with Miracle League Field also helps to serve Heartland's mission, said Steve Fast, assistant to the HCC president for public information and communication.
“[Miracle League Field] brought a lot of opportunity to the community for folks with disabilities — physical or developmental disabilities — to play baseball. That’s something that ties in very well with the goals of HCC to provide access to opportunities to all individuals in our district, and to help enrich the community,” Fast said.
Fast called attention to the HALO program offered at HCC that lowers barriers to higher education for students with disabilities aged 18-28. He said that it goes hand-in-hand with the physical activities for people with disabilities offered by Miracle League Field.
Steve Mace, president of The Miracle League of Central Illinois, said he’d like to see continued growth at Miracle League Field.
“Most years, we have about 100 kids or kids and adults [who] have disabilities, and the more that number would grow, the better it is for everybody,” said Mace, adding support was the most attractive part of the partnership.
“One of the things that I think a lot of volunteer organizations are looking for is help and support,” he said. “In our concept, most Sundays, we need buddies for our kids. All the kids and adults with disabilities have the opportunity to have a buddy help them through the game, whether it be playing on the field, up to bat [or] through the dugout operations.”
“If you want to get that good heartfelt feeling, come out and watch a game on Sundays. You’ll have a good feeling in your heart when you leave,” Mace said.
