Oneonta Outlaws look to join community

Keith Rogers, owner of the Oneonta Outlaws, recently described to Rotarians how the New York Collegiate Baseball League team will help Oneonta.

The Outlaws will play home games at Damaschke Field after the Oneonta Tigers announced it will move to Norwich, Conn. The 14-team, two division NYCBL is meant to prepare players for professional baseball. The players are unpaid, but the team will support eight jobs and manager Greg Zackrison is paid.

"It's not a business. We don't need to make a dollar here. We're looking to build a tradition here," Rogers said at the March 19 Rotary meeting.

Admission at NYCBL games is frequently less than $5, and the team will offer a beer garden and other concessions.

The team will include Jeff Wiltsie, a 2009 Oneonta High School graduate playing for SUNY Cortland.

The team needs families to host players. If interested, call 432-6326.

Rotary joins in Haiti relief

Several area organizations recently joined with Rotary to help buy shelter boxes to send to Haiti following its earthquake Jan. 12.

Oneonta Rotarians and the Otsego-Delaware Job Service Employer Committee joined forces to help Haitians with the ShelterBox packages, which include a 10-person tent, plus water-purification tablets, cooking and eating utensils, basic tools and school supplies.

ShelterBox is a project of Rotary International. The nonprofit relief organization is based in Cornwall, England, according to its website, www.shelterbox.org.