World Softball Brotherhood Supporting Efforts in Latin America

Sept. 1, 2020

Question: What do you do when you can’t play ball because of a pandemic?
Answer: You fight the pandemic!

Tulio Ontiveros, Co-Director of SSUSA’s Caribbean Classic Recreational Tournament, had plans to start up the first senior slow pitch league in his native Venezuela.  He had a financial sponsor lined up, and the first 13-week season was projected to begin in August 2020.  Then came the Covid-19 pandemic, forcing Ontiveros to put his league debut on hold.  Rather than sitting back and waiting, he decided to take direct action against the pandemic.

“I have created a charity I call the World Softball Brotherhood,” he explains.  “Our purpose is to raise money for economically sensitive communities that have no resources to buy or replace at least one effective mask.”  And he isn’t limiting his efforts to Venezuela.

“In my years of creating and running softball tournaments throughout Latin America,” he says, “I have developed trusted relationships in Venezuela, Dominican Republic (where the Caribbean Classic takes place), Nicaragua and Panama.  My contacts know where the need for masks is greatest.”

Studies have proven that face masks are one of the most effective tools available to stop the spread of the virus that causes Covid-19. 

Ontiveros pledges that “all money donated will be used to buy the facial masks in the USA or in each country, where it best works, to be shipped and delivered.”

SSUSA players, families and friends who wish to donate should make their check or money order payable to World Softball Brotherhood. The mailing address is C/O Jim Goff, 5113 Amesbury Drive, Davenport, IA 52807.  Jim is the other Co-Director of the Caribbean Classic tournament.

“Many communities require our help,” Ontiveros says, “and as softball brothers we can provide what is necessary to prevent contagion.”