Home Depot, volunteers clean up Osseo baseball field

by Dan Groeschel, Editor

At its peak, the flood waters of Labor Day weekend had an entire baseball field under water. Not only did the flood waters leave the fields at Osseo Junior Baseball Softball in need of some tender love and care, but the storage shed, garage and concession stands all needed some as well.

That’s when Tracy Sacia, store manager of the Home Depot store in La Crosse, offered to help. Sacia and about 45 other Home Depot employees from 15 different stores in Minnesota and Wisconsin flocked to the youth baseball complex on Thursday and worked with a number of local volunteers.

Thursday’s cleanup consisted of a number of tasks. The crews raked leaves, leveled and raked the infield dirt, laid out the baseball gear to dry, painted, cleaned the concession stand equipment, removed the wood shelving units in the storage shed and pressure washed the sidewalks, storage shed and the outside of the structure that houses the concession stand and storage sheds.

“Most of the baseball equipment should be salvageable,” Steve Seefeldt, Vice President of the Osseo Junior Baseball Softball, said. “We have to let it completely dry out and go from there.”

As the equipment was being evaluated, Seefeldt said there was a mix of new and old equipment that broke or needed to be treated to prevent mold.

Sacia said Thursday’s work was primarily focused on preventing mold with the winter season right around the corner. She also said the Home Depot crew plans on returning in the spring to replace the concession stand appliances.

“People don’t realize how appreciative a community is for volunteers,” Sacia said. “I hope the youth see this and feel inspired to volunteer as well.”