From our teen leader Sarah Capute

I travelled to Las Galeras in the Dominican Republic with Las Margaritas foundation. My aunt, who grew up in the DR, started this foundation with my uncle and the help of her family, who live in the Dominican. The foundation has been holding a summer camp for children in the DR for years now. They take teen leaders with them each year to help with the camp. My aunt and I came up with the idea of me leading a softball clinic as a part of the camp this year and tie it into a theme of gender equity. I collected equipment with the help of the Cheshire softball community to use in the clinic and donate to some local teams in the DR. On the day of the equipment drive, I had no idea what to expect or if anyone would even show up. But I was amazed at how much equipment we gathered and how interested and excited people were about the project. We collected enough equipment to hold a clinic at the camp and donate to three different places in the DR. There were about 50 kids at the clinic and I taught some basic skills (throwing, fielding, hitting). I had to improvise at times in order to communicate because my spanish isn’t too great. When the clinic was finished, I got to meet a few of the players on one of the teams we donated to (The Bandits) while they were receiving the rest of the equipment. Although baseball is a huge part of Dominican culture, softball is rare and girls don’t get nearly enough opportunities to participate in sports in general. This was an incredible experience for me to see the impact a small project like this could have.