GRAND RAPIDS, Mich -- Mark Augustyn has a beautiful wiffle ball field in his backyard, it's called Mission Field. It sits near another amazing backyard wiffle ball field Hollow Park."
"Being down the street from another field, our boys had been too young to play in that tournament" Augustyn said. "We've come back after every tournament and said Mr. Augustyn will you help us do some of it? So we finally decided, we'll help you do it, but you guys have to do it. So they helped cut all the boards and screw them all together and put all the concrete in to build all the walls and do all that. It just became a neighborhood hangout spot. We leave the balls out all the time and the bats out all the time and the kids come. If you build it they will come."
Last year they held their first tournament for kids grades 3 through 8. This year they have brought it back and this time they are collecting baseball equipment to send to Haiti.
The Augustyn's youngest son, Grady who is adopted, is from Haiti.
"We wanted to put some purpose behind the tournament this year. It kind of fits the name of our field, Mission Field, to just do something with purpose. I reached out to some groups in Haiti that had baseball and found out that they have so very little down there" Augustyn said.
The tournament is Wednesday with 26 teams and 136 kids participating. There are 50 games scheduled starting at 8 a.m. going until 8 p.m..
