Baseball fundraiser cooks up funds for Mini Games

While the Hustlers and the North Stars were battling for a piece of the championship of the fall edition of the Saipan Major League upon Francisco M. Palacios Baseball Field on Saturday afternoon, the CNMI All-Stars were busy cooking and selling hot lunches to help pay for their trip to this summer’s South Pacific Mini Games in Palau.

Pitchers, shortstops, and outfielders were converted to chefs, servers, and counter help at the open-air roadside café across the street from the stadium, as the team worked to raise over $1,600 from the sale of the traditional fundraising midday meal.

Each of the players sold all of their allotted $50 worth of tickets prior to the one-day lunch outing. According to team manager Tony Rogolifoi, they also benefited from a number of people who happened to drop by their stand between the hours of 11:30am and 1:30pm with $5 and an appetite.

“I’m really happy that we did so well for our first fund raising effort. The boys did a great job by going out into the community and selling their tickets, and we also got a lot of business from walk-ins. I’d like to thank everyone who showed their support by buying one of our lunches,” said Rogolifoi.

The players have been working hard to show teams from across the region that this group of hard-ballers from the Commonwealth are a force to be reckoned with on the diamond by spending plenty of hours in the batting cages, running laps, and shagging flies, but they have a long way to go until they can fund their trip.

According to Rogolifoi, the team needs to accumulate $12,000 for the airfare to Palau alone, and the March 3, deadline set by NMASA to do so is rapidly approaching.

The team will be meeting tonight during their 5:30pm practice to discuss future fundraising operations, and while they will be soliciting friends in the government and the business community, their will try to depend on themselves to come up with the funds.

“Anything that will help the team will be greatly appreciated—especially by the players. We will continue our efforts by having three more hot lunch fund raisers, a softball tournament, and a raffle drawing in May,” he said

For more information about contributing to the CNMI baseball team’s fundraising drive, contact Tony Rogolifoi by calling 664-2508.