CENTRAL — It’s one thing to have the opportunity to trade in the aluminum bats for wood and have the opportunity to play in front of major league scouts throughout the summer.

It’s another thing entirely, however, for the members of the Carolina Chaos baseball team to give back to their adopted community, as they have committed themselves to doing more than simply playing baseball on the Southern Wesleyan campus this summer.

The Chaos, which is comprised of college players from much of the eastern United States, is a summer team that has played in the Southern Collegiate Baseball League since 2003, where it competes alongside seven teams from North Carolina, South Carolina and Tennessee.

Sanctioned by both the NCAA and Major League Baseball, the players use wood bats, a major factor in helping draw any number of pro scouts to the park each night.

That makes for a big opportunity for the members of the Chaos, as 16 former team members over the last seven years have gone on to play professionally, both in the country and overseas.

But for the members of the Chaos, their summer is about more than just baseball, as community outreach is a focal point according to first-year head coach Nathan Swords.

Swords is little more than halfway through his first season as head coach, although he is in fifth year coaching after playing with the Chaos for three years while attending Southern Wesleyan.

Swords, also an assistant coach for the SWU baseball team and the Daniel High School football team, said it was a goal coming into the season to help the players be more well rounded, which has been an undertaking well worth the extra effort so far.

“In the past, we’ve got them down here and it’s just about baseball, so we wanted to do something different,” Swords said. “We want to help give them the chance not only to grow as a baseball players, but to grow better as people and grow better spiritually as well.”

On the first night the team was together in late May, the squad committed itself to raising funds for the Honor Flight Network, which aims to send World War II veterans to the World War II Memorial in Washington, D.C.

Learning 1,300 World War II veterans die each day, it struck a chord with the team to give the veterans a chance to visit the memorial, particularly as the grandfather of team founder and general manager Brian Swords, Nathan’s cousin, served in the war.

And with perspective from players hailing from Virginia Military Institute and The Citadel on the roster as well, Swords turned the fundraising efforts over to the team in hopes of raising  ,000 this summer to send three veterans to the nation’s capital.

“We didn’t want to (control) it,” Swords said. “We wanted to give (the players) ownership of it since it’s their project, and they’ve had some good ideas. I think they’ve done a good job with it so far.”

Players have gone into the community seeking donations, and are hoping to hold several events, such as car washes, in the coming weeks to help reach that goal, though Swords said the community has been willing to open its pockets already.

“They’ve been going throughout the community trying to get sponsorship, and the community has been receptive to it,” Swords said. “A lot of people, especially nowadays, are kind of tight with their money, but they’ve been very receptive to this cause and this organization.”

Former Pendleton High School standout Chad Drosieko, who is now attending North Greenville University, added the project is an effort he’s proud to be a part of, and that the team is still looking for a way to reach its goal before the summer is up.

“It’s definitely about the community,” Drosieko said. “We’re still trying to collect money for that, and we’re trying to come up and create a way to bring it all together.”

For more information on the Chaos, including their fundraising efforts, visit www.carolinachaos.com.