One Big Step Toward A ‘Miracle’ In Woodbury

The work didn't stop with the groundbreaking.

While construction of a new Miracle League field has already begun at the in Woodbury, there was an additional $35,000 that had to be raised.

Consider it done.

A group of grads—Wade Hanson, Tony Huot, Bil Dougherty, Bryan Nelson, DJ Troje, Ryan Warner and Mark Hargis—organized a fundraiser at Bielenberg on Sunday.

More than $40,000 was raised.

The event put an exclamation point on , which is specially designed for children with mental or physical handicaps.

The field—named after late Woodbury resident Jeff Hanson—will be the ninth of its kind in the metro area. in August.

The total construction cost for the field is estimated at more than $250,000. The Woodbury Rotary Club, along with Miracle League of Minnesota, coordinated the majority of the fundraising efforts through numerous events and private donations.

Wade Hanson, one of the organizers of the Sept. 11 fundraiser, said he and a handful of Woodbury business leaders decided to step in and help secure the funds for the field after they found out the project was still short on cash.

“The field itself is a wonderful opportunity,” he said. “It provides kids with mental and physical handicaps an area to enjoy the sport (of baseball) and not sit on the sidelines.”

Hansen said about 1,000 showed up for the event, which included a petting zoo, face painting, inflatable hoppers, silent auctions, giants slides and raffles.

Construction of the field will hopefully be finished by spring of 2012, Hanson said.

“This is a great project and we’re glad we got to help them wrap it up,” he said.