When Jay Neal emailed me the 2025 Strasburg Express schedule in order for me to pick our night at The Park, the choice was about one thing and one thing only, the visiting team needed to be the Harrisonburg Turks.

It just happened to play out that its a game between the two division leaders this season. There are a list of people that leave a mark on your life over the years and Teresa Weese is and will always remain one of the kindest souls I have had the pleasure of interacting with over the past two decades.

Angel 😇 on Earth is how I describe Mrs. Turks and I feel blessed 🙌 to have been associated with her for a little over a decade during my time with the Valley Baseball League.

The fact that the Wease family 👪 is still running the H’BURG team is a story in itself. The VBL takes an enormous toll on a person for 90 days and then you take a day or two off and start planning the next season.

When we created the promotion for the VBL that we named Around the Valley in 60 days ( now you know where the name of our two main sites come from), it was the Harrisonburg Turks that had the most participants and by a wide margin.

It would be easy to say that it was because H’BURG was in the center of the League from a geographic standpoint. But the reality is that Teresa Weese is simply someone who people want to spend time around. The season in which he were the caretakers of the Waynesboro Generals, we honored a person who makes a difference in the community that the visitors call home.

Such a fun night 🌙 back then when we were able to salute the efforts of Teresa Weese at our ballpark !

Tomorrow night it will be Express versus Turks, #1 versus #2 but for me it will be Teresa Weese and Jay Neal!

OneofUs.care is a Non-profit organization created by Jerry and Linda Carter that is currently based out of beautiful Laurel Fork, Virginia.

While the home base is currently located 200 miles down I-81 the roots to  Shenandoah County, the Town of Strasburg, the Valley Baseball League as a whole and the Strasburg Express in particular are easy to see.

Strasburg is where the vision began 20 years ago in Page and Shenandoah Counties and continues today through a vision built on three simple beliefs.

First – the easiest of the Three Pillars, Kindness. Hope is available if we just find away to be nicer to one another every chance we are given.

Second – if you have a skill set that you can lend out in a manner that would make someone’s life better, do it as often as you can. We have never asked anyone to write ✍ a check to fund our efforts, just find a way to give of themselves.

Third – Find a way, through bartering and volunteering to create things that do not already exist. We have managed to accomplish this in a number of places across the Commonwealth.

Back to Strasburg and the Express, having stepped in after the untimely death of the Principle owner of the Fauquier Gators and getting the team to Strasburg is as proud of an achievement as there has been.

Twelve years with the Valley Baseball League, five years of writing ✍ for the Northern Virginia Daily and one year as the Sports Editor for the Free Press are among the ties to the area.

Every dollar that was paid by the NVD was returned to Strasburg by way of a Book gifted to the School after Suzanne Mathias led the Rams 🐏 to their State Championship.

While the main site for our organization is under a makeover, the site that this is being read on is the same one that the journey began nearly two decades ago. It has the same name, Around the Valley in 60 Days. All of the information and stories back then are still available there and the sister site which is now called the Laurel Fork Coconut Telegraph.

The tag line is Encouraging the World, One person at a Time with the goal being providing hope at a time where its desperately needed.

We hope you enjoy the Ball Game tonight versus the Harrisonburg Turks and if you can make someone smile tonight while you are at the park, please do !

Now to borrow the line from the Late, Great Paul Harvey – Now, here’s the Rest of the Story :

What you just read was prepared for Sunday night 🌙 at the Strasburg Express – Harrisonburg Turks VBL baseball game.

Jay Neal, long time Friend and mentor,  had one stipulation to me preparing a message and that was to not include his name in the message. Tough to do because it was Jay Neal and his random acts of kindness in the direction of Linda and I that created our ability to do the things we have done in Shenandoah County, Page County, Carroll County and Beckley, West Virginia amongst other places.

Jay Neal is the Jay Neal listed when we present the Jay Neal Lifetime Achievement Award each year. Jay is a tremendous example of how someone going out of their way to benefit another can pay dividends ten fold. A fun day occurred when we presented Jerry Walters of Woodstock this award a couple of years ago.

  While our efforts were taking place in the area there for over a decade, it was over a decade ago. So most people in the area aren’t even aware of the connection. But we will never forget the opportunities 🙏 that came from God, Jay Neal and John Culp.

You just don’t know how one person and a random act of kindness can alter another person’s life.