by David Sedlacek
On March 11, 2011, 25 of the 30 members of a Little League baseball team in Onagawa, Japan lost their homes to the tsunami. But not only their homes―their baseball equipment was washed away as well.
In the nearby town of Rifu, a friend of one of the team's baseball coaches called Oasis Chapel for help. Could the church replace the team's baseball bats and gloves? Pastor Makito Matsuda posted the need on Facebook.
Pastor Matsuda had a new Facebook friend―CRASH volunteer Yoshi Ehara, who had worked out the arrangements to lease Camp Morigo from Oasis Chapel to serve as CRASH's Sendai area base.
Ehara saw the need posted for baseball equipment, and emailed me to ask if we could do something about it. The CRASH Logistics Department was extremely busy―coordinating container shipments of relief supplies, arranging vehicle rentals, obtaining a warehouse, etc.―but this was a specific request we definitely wanted to do something about.
So on Thursday, April 14, we loaded five boxes of baseball equipment into my car to take to Sendai. When we arrived at Camp Morigo, we met Pastor Matsuda and passed the equipment on to him. I chose to add a special personal gift for the coach―my 2010 World Series edition Texas Rangers hat. With that, our job was done. We had worked through the Church in Tohoku to bring help and hope to the people of Tohoku.
Two days later, on April 16, the coach of the Little League team in Onagawa came to Oasis Chapel to receive the equipment. He had only asked for gloves and bats, but was delighted to get far more than he had imagined.
The coach believes these children who lost so much will benefit from being able to play baseball again. What provision, that a church in their neighborhood could bring them this joy!
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