PEORIA COUNTY, Ill. – Children across central Illinois have a golden opportunity to see a baseball game this summer.
The Golden Baseball Initiative is returning this year after taking a hiatus last summer. It’s a collaboration between the Peoria Chiefs and the Peoria County Sheriff’s Department.
The program gives golden baseballs to officers and deputies across central Illinois to give out to kids who are doing good deeds or behavior.
“I know we’ve given them out, like, if we see kids with lemonade stands, or they’re raising money for a charity. Or just staying out of trouble,” said Peoria County Sheriff Chris Watkins.
The baseballs can be turned into the Chiefs box office for two free tickets to an August or September game, with the kids keeping the ball as well. The initiative was inspired by longtime Chiefs owner Pete Vonachen, who believed “there’s nothing like the smile on a kid’s face when you give them a ball.”
Watkins adds the program can be a good way to build positive relationships between police and children.
“Some of our interactions with the youth are when they’re in stressful situations,” Watkins said. “If they’re involved in a car accident, or they’re part of an abusive house, or they made a poor choice. I want to make that lopsided where our interactions with the youth are way more positive than those tense situations.”
More than 1,000 balls will be given out this summer.
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