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Y-S men step up to the plate

By Kymm Mann/Appeal-Democrat

At the end of this month, several children in the Dominican Republic on the Haitian border will get much more than just dental work and medical care - they will be able to play their favorite sport with new equipment.

As part of the group Children of the Nations, a local dentist, attorney and a medical sales representative are traveling for the second time to the Third World country, to a small town called Bajaron.

?Last year, we got a bunch of donations of old baseball gear from a friend, and since the Dominican Republic plays a lot of baseball, we took equipment and baseballs,? said Garth Larrigan, the medical sales rep in Yuba City.

Larrigan painted a sad but inspiring picture of the Dominican children, so dedicated to their sport that they wore mitts fashioned out of milk cartons, and some players wore one tennis shoe and one cleat.

?We sneaked up on these kids playing ball in the forest, and we started throwing baseballs out. We almost got mobbed, they were so excited,? Larrigan said.

The foursome saw how much the children love baseball and want them to have more new equipment this year.

Children of the Nations, started by a missionary couple in 1995, is working in the United States, Dominican Republic, Sierra Leone, Malawi and Uganda to provide relief for orphaned and destitute children.

COTN operates homes, schools, clinics and village feeding centers in an effort to give quality care to children. Each location is established as an individual nonprofit organization.

Dentists Ken Skyberg and Ollie Scheideman went last year, but Skyberg will be the only dentist going to the country this trip.

Larrigan said Skyberg did his residency in a Third World country, which got him interested in doing free work for those with little or no medical care. The dentist gathered his friends, and the four of them, including Yuba City attorney David McCaslin, took their first trip last year.

?We pull teeth and assist the dentist while we're there,? Larrigan explained. ?My job has nothing to do with why I'm down there.?

The threesome - minus Scheideman this year - will leave Sept. 30 and stay about eight or nine days, Larrigan said - six of them spent performing medical procedures.

Each participant is responsible for his own costs, which add up to about $2,000 each, Larrigan said.

?We're all doing it on our own,? he said. ?It's on the opposite side of the resort areas; it's not really a place our wives and kids would want to go, but it's not too expensive, and we get a lot out of it.?

Larrigan said the group is working hard to make the trip once a year. This year, they are putting the word out to help get donations of baseball equipment.

?We've got a big baseball community; with kids playing, great high school teams, the Gold Sox, people love baseball here,? he said. ?I'm not a dad of boys or a coach or anything, I just want these kids to have (equipment).

Appeal-Democrat reporter Kymm Mann can be reached at 749-4707 or kmann@appeal-democrat.com.