Thursday, hundreds of people raised thousands of dollars to help a family in need, and everyone in attendance was connected through baseball.
Dawn Douglas, a substitute Horry County school teacher and mother of three, died a week ago after a stroke.
Her husband, James Douglas, is unable to work after he had open heart surgery a few weeks ago.
Dawn and James Douglas had three children.
Their middle son, Josh, is involved in baseball and plays in several leagues in both South and North Carolina.
“We are opponents on the field, but we’re a baseball family off the field,” said Nicole Couilliard.
Couilliard helped organize the fundraiser for the Douglas family.
She says she did not have to do much to get the community involved.
Around 100 different companies offered raffle items to the fundraiser.
There was also food, dunk tanks, a bounce house, music, games, and a wiffle ball tournament all donated for the cause.
The hundreds of people who attended the fundraiser were the families of the kids Josh plays baseball with.
“I never thought that this many people actually cared honestly,” said Dawn Douglas’s daughter Kristin Douglas.
“I knew we knew a lot of people in baseball, but I didn’t realize how many until this actually happened,” said Dawn Douglas’s mother Debbie Moore.
Moore says baseball is getting the family through the tough time.
She says every day Josh is out on the field playing.
She says she asked Josh if he wanted to stop after his mom died, he told her he wanted to keep playing and his mom would have wanted it.
Thursday night the fundraiser raised around $7,000 for the Douglas family.
If you are interested in helping out you can visit the family’s GoFundMe page.