OKLAHOMA CITY — A local softball program is teaming up with convicted criminals to build a brand new softball field.
Coach Arnelia Spears has been in need of an updated softball field for her team for years.
She started working with team parents a few years ago, and someone had a brilliant idea: call the Department of Corrections.
You see, inmates provide free labor for communities around the metro.
DOC agree to take the project.
Dozens of inmates from Clara Waters Community Corrections worked on the field for almost two years. They worked on Saturdays, because DOC has restrictions about inmates working around minor children.
DOC work programs are a privilege for responsible inmates.
So, when Millwood High School called the department to ask for some help building their own softball field. It seemed only fitting the guys from Clara Waters, who play softball on prison grounds almost every afternoon, were 100 percent on board.
“What we have are a bunch of guys who are non-violent. (They’re) about ready to go home and during the day they go to work just like the rest of us. Every once in awhile we get to do a project like we have here at Millwood.” said Department of Corrections District Supervisor, Brian Thornburgh.
Millwood was in desperate need of a new softball field. They had five acres on the north end of the property for the field, but what they didn’t have was an extra $200,000 in the bank.
I didn’t say ‘No way.’ But I was thinking ‘No way.’ said Millwood parent, Ali Tahir.
Tahir donated the gas and the labor. Oklahoma County donated the dirt, hundreds of cubic yards of soil to level out a proper playing field.
“My granddaughter is on the softball team, and my children all went here.” said Tahir.
Tahir is one of a handful of donors who helped build the field; like Sammy Hankins is 77 years young.
“I was gonna help out for a little bit, but it ended up being two months of helping out. That field was nothing but grass and weeds.” said Hankins.
Two years the inmates worked, on Saturdays when campus was empty, leveling dirt and burying fence posts and sowing a legacy for future champions.
It is a dream come true for Coach Arnelia Spears.
“My passion is kids. That they have the best facility to do what they need to do. That’s my passion.” Spears said.
Spears and the Lady Falcons expect a winning streak this season with their new winning facility.
“I’m feeling blessed.” said Spears. “I feel blessed that when I want to do something people come and help me.”
Indeed they do come from the least likely places for this field of dreams.
