The Am-Can Baseball Sup port Group is working to provide local Mazatlan kids with bats, balls, mitts, uniforms, catcher’s masks and all the other stuff needed to play the international pastime, baseball. Whether you live in the U.S., Canada or Mexico, you can conveniently and confidently pitch in and help. This is definitely one of those on-the-level charities where everything goes directly to a worthy cause with no skimming or scamming. It all started with Rosie, the baseball-fetching dog, who brought home so many foul balls and homeruns from the local Minnesota ballpark that her owner, Richard Runde, decided to bring them down to an orphanage here in town. Having thus started the ball rolling, Richard has made contact with other baseball aficionados, including Canadian Bob Nicol, Mazatlan sportswriter Roberto Vargas, and David Via of the local Canaco little league. Things have really snowballed, and in recent years they have managed to outfit fourteen Mazatlan teams, and a few more

in Dimas, a town some thirty miles up the road. Bob gets used gear every two years from teams from Port Albernie and Oceanside, B.C. The now defunct Canada 3000 charter company flew equipment down for free. The Chapel of Our Savior Church in Colorado Springs has donated some five hundred dollars worth of gear, as well as $500 in cash to buy more. Baseball teaches good sportsmanship and teamwork, keeps kids off the streets and out of the video parlors, and transcends barriers of language. So next time you’re cleaning out the garage, attic or your teenager’s closet and find an old bat, ball, or glove, think what it could mean to a future Fernando Valenzuela or Vinnie Castilla. Bring it on down to the Pacific Pearl office, and we’ll make sure it gets into the right hands. If you wish to contribute money, ideas, or equipment, please contact: Richard Runde 2660 Zarthan Ave. So. St. Louis Park, Minnesota USA 55416, (952) 929-8241 or Bob Nicol 512 Hawthorne Drive Qualicum Beach, British Columbia Canada V9K 1A5 (250) 752-2104 Email: bcnicol@shaw.CA