From the Simpson family who has participated several years and is moving from Las Vegas:

“I am so proud of our son. He amazes me in every way. Today he had an award ceremony. They were clapping for him. Then at the end Jesse walked over to me and gave me a hug and kiss. The parents stood up and clapped. I started to cry. He is a wonderful young man. I can’t believe he is going to be 11 soon. We sure do love coming to baseball.  And we are going to miss Miracle League. I will look you up on Facebook so we can stay connected. From where he started and now since the beginning of baseball, I can’t believe how much he has changed”.

Cathy, who drives her son in from Pahrump for every game described the Miracle League impact this way:

“Thomas loves Miracle League and can’t wait for Saturday to come.  From the time he began 6 years ago, he has developed from a very shy, introverted young man who would not look anyone in the eyes to a very social and talkative fellow.  Thomas could only hit the baseball off the tee when he began and would not let anyone be his buddy assistance except me, his mother.  Now he hits from a pitched ball and loves socializing with a different buddy each game day.  He has come such a long way. We are so grateful for Miracle League”.

Adrienne DerOhanian, one of our Miracle League Moms:

“I just want to say how amazing Miracle League is! Every time I attended one of Kevin’s games, I felt so positive and inspired! We all can’t wait until the fall season. Thank you for all of your hard work and dedication”.

USOA Teen Nevada

March 24, 2019

I had the AMAZING experience this weekend volunteering with Miracle League Las Vegas for their baseball league’s Opening Day! I got to be a “buddy” to kids and adults with physical disabilities, mental disabilities, Down’s Syndrome and/or other cognitive deficits while playing baseball! These new buddies of mine were SO MUCH FUN! They had so much energy and definitely play better baseball than me! ⚾

Claudia, my first buddy chose me. She let me know, she was ALSO a queen. She ran up and gave me the BIGGEST HUG! 🥰 👑 I could barely keep up with Claudia, as you can see in the pictures of us running to 2nd base. My next buddy, “T”, was a cute little girl that I got to help teach to bat and run her around the bases in her wheelchair. I also got to meet Christopher and Johnny who wanted to take pictures with me too. It was so much fun learning all about my new friends with Miracle League Las Vegas.  They also have a soccer league too and need volunteers for both the baseball and soccer schedules which are weekly with special themed weeks, each week. I would highly recommend it, as you will never have the kind of fun that I did seeing this sport through their eyes. ☺️

There’s no doubt that serving our community as a Miracle League “Buddy” can be a truly rewarding experience for the Buddy as well…

As one of our able-bodied high school baseball player buddy volunteers put it: “Being able to share my love of baseball with the Miracle League players makes me feel good and makes me see how fortunate I am.  I love their enthusiasm and energy and talking with them about their favorite team and players and getting to know them.”  The Miracle League model of involving community youth as volunteers at an early age helps promote community service values and a lifetime spirit of “giving back”.

Dear Roxanne,
I hope that you can forward this email to the powers that be at Bishop Gorman as they should be extremely proud of their Freshman Football team. I am incredibly embarrassed that I can’t remember these phenomenal boy’s names.

My name is Rebecca Aguon and I am the mother of Vincent, the little boy in the picture. Vincent had a tough life before being brought into our family. He really doesn’t enjoy meeting new people and has trust issues that are a result of the trauma he endured in his early years of life. Vincent loves Miracle League.  I am also the parent of a sophomore that attends Bishop Gorman. Needless, to say  we were very excited to see the Bishop Gorman Freshman football team volunteering at Miracle League.  It was like two of our favorites together in one place.
The coach of the Football team was well organized and very respected by his players. I asked the BG coach for someone that liked to run as I expected Vincent to spend the day running away from whichever volunteer was assigned to him. Vincent was assigned two volunteers. I never expected that these two volunteers would invest so much of themselves playing and engaging with Vincent. It melted my heart. It was a joy to watch. I was in awe how they interacted with Vincent. Vincent wasn’t a boy on a special team for that hour. He was their teammate, their equal. They got down on his level, they cheered him on, engaged him, laughed with him, and played with him.  Vincent didn’t run away once. These boys and their coach showed what true sportsmanship truly is and they showed what God’s unconditional love means to all his children. I hope that these boys along with their teammates and coach will be recognized for their amazing hearts.

Much love and appreciation
Rebecca Aguon

Bishop Gorman Freshman Football Team, Miracle League Experience

Roxanne,

I had no idea what the Miracle League was truly about until I walked onto the baseball field.  You are truly a blessing to the community and to the players and families of the ML.  The first email below is what I sent out to the parents this am about yesterday.  My inbox exploded today with emails from parents.  I thought it would be nice for you to see the impact your organization has had on our Bishop Gorman families.  Cant wait to see you all again..

Jeff Kondra

The Bishop Gorman freshman football team came out and volunteered all day for a few weeks in a row for us bringing tons of energy and excitement.  The comments below are emails to and from Coach Jeff Kondra.

What a wonderful experience we all had yesterday.  I truly can’t put into words the gratitude and appreciation I received from the parents and staff at the Miracle League.  I had at least 10+ parents and staff stop me to express the love they had for your children. I had parents tell me that they could see their players emotional responses were different from being with our kids. That our players from BG were a total 100% class act, that they have never seen a group be so respectful to the kids of ML, and on and on they went.

A mother of a Faith Lutheran student that was volunteering as well is emailing Coach Burg and Sanchez to express her feelings about your children.  Another parent stopped me and is writing an email to the President of Bishop Gorman to let him know great your children did yesterday.  Be proud of your kids!

See you all this week..

Jeff Kondra

Hi – my name is Cindy Seigle and I am a Faith Lutheran parent. I am also a big supporter of Miracle League and had the pleasure of spending the day with your freshman football players yesterday. What a fabulous group of young men! I was so impressed. They were energetic, inclusive and extremely gracious. You should be very proud of this group and of their “team mom” Jeff. While I will always have an allegiance to Faith, I am now a big fan of BG football.

Sincerely,

Cindy Seigle

Jeff,

I, just as the parents who have already replied, am so appreciative of the opportunities that you have created for these young men, our Gaels, to step up in the community to make a difference in the lives of others. I particularly appreciate the opportunity for my son to have experienced supporting those living with special needs.  I worked for over 25 years with special needs children and I know first hand how parents worry that their child will be treated differently and won’t fit in.  I have always tried to instill in my son that no matter where we are in life or what we have, we are no different, no better,  nor anymore deserving than any other person because we are all equally blessed in the eyes of God; and to see how our young men interacted towards the players with acceptance, support, friendliness, and encouragement while demonstrating, respect and maturity made me an even prouder mom than ever before. Seeing the TEAM demonstrate these behaviors together, only confirms that my son is being guided and educated in an environment where his teammates and friends have clearly been taught the same morals and beliefs. This is so important to me as a parent and I feel so blessed because of it!

Congratulations parents, on a job well done. Jeff, cant wait to see what you have up your sleeve next. ☺  You all have a great week!