Photo by Derek Redd The Kiwanis Club of Wheeling donated a total of $10,000 to Valley Grove to help rebuild the baseball field destroyed by the June flash floods. Pictured are, from left, Justin Hartzell from the Dallas Pike Community Association, Valley Grove Mayor Chad Kleeh, Kiwanis Club Director Tim Reed and Kiwanis Club President Doug Pell.

Kiwanis Club Donates $10K To Valley Grove

By DEREK REDD

Managing Editor

The Kiwanis Club of Wheeling wanted to raise its profile in the community after a quiet last few years – and did so Thursday with a big donation to flood-stricken Valley Grove.

The club donated a total of $10,000 at its meeting Thursday afternoon at the Wheeling Artisan Center. The Dallas Pike Community Association received $6,000 to help rebuild the Valley Grove youth baseball field, while the Village of Valley Grove received $4,000.

Kiwanis Director Tim Reed said the club considered rebuilding the baseball field a critical part to the overall rebuilding of Valley Grove, which was devastated in June from flash floods that barreled through the village and killed nine people in Ohio County.

“A lot of times a baseball field that’s decimated by a flood probably doesn’t get top billing as far as getting reestablished and refurbished,” he said.

Kiwanis President Doug Pell said such a site is a major part of any small community.

“I feel like everyone grows up playing baseball,” he said. “So it’s an integral part of the community and for the kids, which is the main mission for Kiwanis.”

Justin Hartzell of the Dallas Pike Community Association confirmed how important that field has been for the youth in Valley Grove.

“We have roughly 150 kids that come play for us,” he said. “And half of them use that field. Without it, we don’t have a place for them to play, so it’s a big deal to keep the ball rolling for our community.”

Valley Grove Mayor Chad Kleeh said he had just sent the final paperwork to FEMA for federal aid for the village. In it, he said rebuilding the baseball field would take about $65,000, and that’s just for structural repairs. All of the equipment used to maintain the field was lost in the flood as well, so the money donated Thursday by the Kiwanis Club would go a long way to replacing it.

“It’s like the first day of the flood where people just started coming out of the woodwork to help,” Kleeh said. “To this day, so many months later, there are still people offering to help like this. For them to donate like this, there is huge, huge appreciation from all of us.”

Anyone interested in joining the Kiwanis Club of Wheeling can email Pell at dpell@cb.bank.