North Vermilion Youth Athletic Association receives grant from Texas Rangers Foundation

If you go out to the North Vermilion Youth Athletic Association’s baseball fields, next to North Vermilion high school, you will see some awnings next to the fields that look as though they have always been there.
In reality, those awnings are still relatively new.
The NVYAA was fortunate enough, last September, to receive a grant from the Texas Rangers Foundation in the form of $10,000.
“We were really excited when we learned that we would receive the grant from the Texas Rangers,” Equipment Director Richie Trahan said. “We applied for the $10,000 grant, which is the most we could have gotten, and we were fortunate enough to be giving the full amount.
“The money the Rangers Foundation gave us has been a huge help, and is going to not only make our baseball/softball fields look better, but they are going to help make things a little safer for everyone as well.”
The money received in the grant went towards the build of the awnings that can be seen at the north and south fields.
In total it cost the NVYAA a total of $15,000 to put awnings on both fields.
“We (the NVYAA) had to come up with a bout $5,000,” Trahan said. “We were able to do that by using a little of the general fund, but we wouldn’t have been able to do that without the money from the grant.”
The NVYAA was presented with the check at a Texas Rangers baseball game in September, and after searching for the lowest bids were able to start construction on the awnings this past December.
According to Trahan adding on the awnings were one of the NVYAA’s top priorities.
“There are a lot of kids and parents that are walking around at our games,” Trahan said. “So for us we were worried about people getting hit by foul balls, so the awnings help to keep everybody a little safer.”
The money also helped the NVYAA get about a year ahead of schedule.
“We have another project going on right now that involves reseeding the fields and making sure the grass is going to be there for a long time,” Trahan said. “So with out the money from the grant, we wouldn’t have been able to get to the awnings until next year.
“There would have been no way that we could have pulled off both projects with out the grant, so we are very thankful for the Rangers Foundation.”
The NVYAA operates on money earned from fund raisers and the parents.
The only other way the NVYAA makes money is through the hotel fund.
So anytime they can get money from another source the NVYAA is very thankful.