Photo: Contributed

A Summerland family hoping to restore a local baseball field in memory of their son is heading to council on Tuesday to ask for monetary support.

Husband and Wife fundraising team, Jeff and Melissa Taylor, have a goal to restore Living Memorial Park.

Their son, Hendriks Jon Taylor, passed away last summer at the age of 16. Hendriks had lived with a brain tumour and ultimately took his own life.

“It's been such an incredible loss. This idea came to us probably the second day after he had passed, that we just needed to do something to keep his memory alive and to give back to this community that's been so good to us and was so good to him,” Melissa told Castanet at the time.

"We're really motivated to honour him by redoing these fields.”

The parents want to rename "Field 2" to Field 96, named after Hendriks' jersey number, but otherwise keep the name Living Memorial Park.

Their fundraiser, which has a goal of $750,000, would go towards completely renovating the field and surrounding area, including adding new lighting, grandstands, batting cages, redoing the field, adding new fencing, and new bases and upgrading the bathrooms which have fallen into disrepair.

The Taylors have also applied for the Toronto Blue Jays Field Of Dreams grant, which provides funding to design, refurbish and build local baseball diamonds in communities across the country.

Melissa shared in an update to Castanet in December that they have been screened into the final stage of the Blue Jays Cares Foundation grant.

"Our application was “very well received”. We are thrilled as this could mean a very substantial investment," she added.

Now, the family, along with the Summerland Minor Baseball Association (SMBA) is asking that the Mayor and council allocate funds to match the potential award from the Blue Jays Cares Grant, Field of Dreams Program up to the amount of $250,000.

"While the Taylor family has spearheaded this endeavour, our organization is firmly behind them and beside them in our collective effort to have at least one of our fields brought up to community baseball standards," SMBA shared in their letter to council.

In their efforts to secure the Blue Jays Cares Field of Dreams Program Grant, they said SMBA has until Jan. 31, 2025, to submit the final application, which includes for council to consider an allocation of matching funds up to $250,000.

"It is our hope that the grant will cover at least one-third of the total costs, with SMBA and the District of Summerland covering the remaining costs (at one-third each)."

To date, SMBA has raised more than $75,000 through a GoFundMe and has plans in place for a variety of fundraising efforts that will continue locally, and on the coast, as they move into spring.

"We recognize that we are making a significant ask at a time that is far outside of the regular budgeting cycle. We did not plan for the event that unfolded in 2024 to become the impetus for the focus of this project," SMBA added.

"That being said- we are still humbly asking for your consideration of a financial contribution to this project. To present the strongest application, it is necessary to demonstrate partners and alternative funding sources. The Blue Jays will choose to invest in a community that can demonstrate support and capacity to complete this project to its completion."

SMBA said that baseball is a "thriving and growing sport" in the community and they believe restoring this field would only add to that, giving Summerland the ability to host tournaments, expand the fall ball season and develop higher-level players.

A full breakdown of the costs can be found in Tuesday's council agenda.

SMBA is requesting matching funds up to the amount of $250,000 in line with a potential Blue Jays Cares Award that can be released over the 2025 and 2026 budget years, along with a collateral letter of support for the project to be ready before the end of day on Jan.31, 2025.

If council does not agree on the full contribution of the one-third cost of the project, SMBA would secondarily ask for them to consider a lesser amount rather than have no contribution.

As well, if SMBA is not selected by Blue Jays Cares, they aim to continue to work with the district on requesting funding through the regular budgeting process beginning in August 2025.

Council will hear from SMBA during Tuesday evening's meeting.