HE Parks Board Names Two Best of Hoffman
The Park Board of Commissioners of the Hoffman Estates Park District is proud to announce two recipients of its Best of Hoffman award for August. At its Aug. 28 meeting, the board chose Matt Schultz, selected for his work as a volunteer baseball coach; and Chris "Alexander" Blackshear for his work on an Eagle Scout project at Chino Park.
Schultz and has been positively impacting the community for quite some time. Matt is a Hoffman resident and has been coaching for three years. This year he agreed to coach an additional baseball team. If he hadn't, many players would not have been able to participate.
"His dedication to both teams and to the park district has been outstanding," said Baseball Program Manager Kyle Thomas. "His commitment, leadership, sportsmanship, and coaching has been much appreciated. He's always positive; never making any of his team players feel anything less than an important part of the team. He knows how to bring fun to the ball field, without making it too competitive and still teaching the fundamentals of baseball to his teams."
When Schultz is not coaching kids on the field or at a game, he brings his teams together for a baseball movie afternoon, fun at the batting cages or after game day ice cream at local ice cream venues.
The second recipient, Blackshear, is an Eagle Scout, which is the highest achievement or rank attainable in the Boy Scouting program of the Boy Scouts of America. Blackshear built the ADA accessible raised beds for the Chino Park Garden Plots, which provides gardening opportunities for those residents who do not have the resources to plant a garden. Thanks to his hard work and dedication, the garden plots Chino Park opened in May with 16 garden plots with wood chip paths plus four additional ADA accessible plots. Only four percent of Boy Scouts are granted Eagle Scout rank and only after a lengthy review process; which requires earning at least 21 merit badges.
Each month, the Park Board honors outstanding volunteers as its Best of Hoffman. For more information, visit heparks.org.