Kickball fundraiser at Pioneer’s 42 Field benefits food pantry

Kickball for Pioneer turned 42 Field into a one-day fundraiser for the Pioneer Community Church Food Pantry, and every dollar from the event was designated for that pantry. The tournament on July 11 marked the first kickball event ever held at 42 Field, the backyard baseball venue outside Pioneer.

The game was staged at 18333 County Road 10.50 in Pioneer, a small village in northern Williams County about 15 miles north of Bryan. 42 Field’s 2026 calendar described the site as northwest Ohio’s only backyard baseball field, now in its 17th season, and said all events there are for players of high-school age and older.

The fundraiser fit squarely into Pioneer’s habit of tying recreation to charitable work. The July 11 kickball date was one of several charity-oriented summer events on the 42 Field schedule, giving the field a role beyond its regular baseball and softball identity. In a village of about 1,500 people, that kind of crossover matters because the local food pantry serves residents in a region where need remains high.

The Toledo Northwestern Ohio Food Bank says its mission is to feed, educate and empower communities to end hunger in Northwestern Ohio, and it says 1 in 7 adults and 1 in 5 kids in the region experience food insecurity. Against that backdrop, a kickball tournament at 42 Field offered more than a day of play. It became a practical funding engine for a pantry that relies on local support, with the field’s first kickball fundraiser aimed directly at keeping food moving to Pioneer households.