On May 23^rd on a warm spring day in Chicago, Good Sports teamed up with the Chicago Cubs Charities to facilitate a Pick, Pack and Play day with volunteers from the Chicago Cubs. With over forty Cubs’ employees coming out to pack equipment kits, over $100,000 in brand new sports equipment was donated to youth baseball and softball programs around Chicago. Teams split up to pick, pack, sort, and communicate the importance of physical activity and giving to the community. Each group had the chance to hear a representative from one of the recipient organizations discuss the impact of the donation on their program and the youth they serve, providing valuable context to the hard work the volunteers engaged in that morning.

Throughout the event, over seventy baseball and softball kits were packed, with equipment including bats, bases, gloves, cleats, apparel, catcher’s equipment, and so much more! At the end of the day, the recipient programs came to the event site to pick up their equipment kits with help from Clark the Cub.

This equipment impacted over 2,600 kids across eight youth baseball and softball organizations around Chicago. The donations allowed these programs to increase registration numbers, lower participation fees for their leagues, increase active participation times per week, and replace worn out equipment they had previously been using due to a lack of funding and resources.

“Baseball equipment is so expensive and this donation allows kids to have a personal glove and a pair of new cleats. To see the faces light up of the kids when you give them cleats and gloves is priceless” – Todd Prince (President of Jackie Robinson West Little League)

“This equipment donation has given me the ability to reward the participants in our program who have worked very hard in the classroom as well on the field. The donation has also allowed me offset costs, enabling us to give the kids more training sessions as well as mentoring sessions” – Lou Collier (Founder of Lou Collier Baseball Association)