Once in disrepair, this Macon ballpark provides kids a nice place to go after school
If you have driven down Anthony Road in west Macon lately, you might have noticed new sod and a fresh coat of paint on the dugouts at Tom Fontaine Park.
Volunteers continued renovations Friday at the west Macon ballpark. It’s part of a series of improvements that have been taking place there over the last several years.
Macon RBI, which stands for Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities, has spearheaded the renovations at the ballpark as well as the creation of a $1.5 million Youth Development Park nearby that will provide children with a place to play baseball, softball, soccer, lacrosse and football.
“We had Scotts that came in a couple of months ago and resodded everything along with the Atlanta Braves, and today, with a generous donation from Home Depot, we're going to be repairing the dugouts, the concession stand and the press box with new paint and wood,” said Jeff Battcher, Macon RBI administrator.
Macon RBI was awarded a grant from Home Depot that provided up to $5,000 in necessary supplies as well as team members to help complete the work.
Jennifer Munthali, the store manager at Macon’s Home Depot, finds awarding the grants to local organizations rewarding.
“We get to go out into the community. We get to let people know we're not just in the stores. We're outside of the stores as well," she said. "We get to change somebody else's lives outside of Home Depot, so the kids will have a place to go to after school or whatever the case may be."
The Bibb County Board of Education owns the park, but the field is used primarily by Macon RBI, Macon Little League and youth organizations.
Battcher said the improvements to the park already have proven to be beneficial to the surrounding area. While the park still was used when it was in disrepair, team registration numbers were down.
“There was already a tournament that came over here, which there hasn’t been a tournament over here in 25 years. And so once all these repairs happened on the sod, tournaments started coming in. So this is a big deal to this neighborhood,” Battcher said.
Macon RBI provides children in the area with the necessary equipment to play on teams they otherwise would not be able to be a part of. The program also provides discounted or waived registration fees depending on the family’s ability to pay.
Adjustments to the field lighting is one of the final steps in completing renovations at the park. Battcher is in communication with Georgia Power about getting the lights fixed soon.
This story was originally published June 8, 2018 at 3:30 PM with the headline "Once in disrepair, this Macon ballpark provides kids a nice place to go after school."