Area baseball rivals help Ronald McDonald House

Chris Paproth coached Raymond Lincolnwood High School to a state baseball championship three years ago. But he stepped away from the coaching duties at Lincolnwood ? his first stop as a high school head coach ? after last season.

Family situations have a way of reorganizing your priorities, and sometimes you need help in dealing with those situations. Paproth, along with Morrisonville baseball coach Bob Montgomery, are grateful for that help and glad their baseball programs are giving back this week.

With new Lincolnwood coach Joshua Stone the main organizer, the Lancers and neighboring Morrisonville played two games this week to raise awareness ? and money ? for the Ronald McDonald House.

They played Tuesday in Raymond and Thursday at Morrisonville. Both schools sold T-shirts, held 50-50 drawings, donated portions of their concessions sales and collected pull tabs from aluminum beverage cans.

Some of the donations hadn?t been totaled up as of Thursday afternoon, but Montgomery and Stone estimated that at least $2,400 would be presented to Ronald McDonald House representatives Thursday afternoon.

?It took a lot of time and planning, but we were happy to do it,? said Stone, who along with his wife, Traci, did much of the legwork in making the event happen. ?I knew the Ronald McDonald House was close to (Paproth and Montgomery), and they appreciated it.?

?Home away from home?

The Ronald McDonald House is a program that provides a ?home away from home? for families so they can be close to their hospitalized child.

Springfield?s Ronald McDonald House, across Carpenter Street from St. John?s Hospital and a few blocks from Memorial Medical Center, has been there for families for more than 25 years. It became that home away from home for Paproth and his wife, Janelle, early in 2011 after their twins ? Kaleb and Kinlee ? were born 12 weeks early.

Montgomery also has a connection to the local Ronald McDonald House. His sister, Amy Schmedeke, spent several months there after her daughter (and Montomery?s niece), Katie Schmedeke, was born prematurely in the early 1990s. Katie?s now a junior at Illinois College.

Paproth spent many, but not every, night at the Ronald McDonald House in the winter and early spring of 2011. He was still teaching and coaching at Lincolnwood, so he spent some nights at home in Farmersville.

?I still coached, but it was a stressful time for everyone,? Paproth said. ?When the baseball season started, (the twins) were still in the NICU (Neonatal Intensive Care Unit) at St. John?s.

?We would?ve been in a real bind without the Ronald McDonald House. It?s a lot easier to be just across the street instead of 35 miles away. They were great to Janelle. Everyone was so friendly.?

Family first

Paproth is happy to report that the twins are doing fine now. But after last year?s challenges, he decided he needed to spend more time at home. Thus, he?s strictly a teacher this year.

?He?s out of the game because of his commitment to his family,? Montgomery said. ?He did the right thing.

?When this (fundraiser) was mentioned, it sounded like it made sense. It was really Josh?s idea, and we just ran with it.?

Even though he?s not coaching the Lancers, Paproth said the last few days showed great teamwork.

?It?s a nice feeling to help them out after they helped us so much,? Paproth said of the Ronald McDonald House. ?It was great to see the community support from both Morrisonville and Raymond.?

Dave Kane can be reached at 788-1544.

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