Moorestown’s Department of Parks and Recreation – in partnership with Sustainable Moorestown – is hosting a used sports equipment swap this spring and fall run by members of the township’s recreation advisory committee.
“Personally, I know people who have struggled to get their hands on decent equipment for their sports,” said committee junior member Luca Petriello, who is leading the swap effort. “I used to be on the baseball team and people would show up not having a bat or a glove and have to borrow other people’s equipment.
“Giving people the opportunity to actively play in these sports, by recycling other’s equipment, is just very important and it opens the door to a lot more young athletes.”
Donations will be collected at bins throughout town and the swap will occur a few weeks later. Dropoff locations include the Moorestown library, the Church Street rec center and True Value Hardware in the township. Spring dates for the donation drop run through Friday, May 31, with the larger swaps scheduled for Saturday, June 1 (Moorestown Day), and Saturday, June 8 (Moorestown’s paddle board and kayak race and family festival).
All items must be clean, new or gently used and residents don’t need to drop to swap. All equipment is free and there will also be pop-up locations for donations at places like sports tournaments and sports clubs.
“This is the very time I’ve actually been leading a project, and when I took it on, I (was) like, ‘This shouldn’t be that big.’ And then I started sending my first wave of emails and I was like, ‘Wow, you have to coordinate a lot of stuff,’” Petriello recalled.
“ … I went through a lot of new experiences,” he added. “I made my first-ever website for the (event’s) flier. I attended committee meetings I thought I never would … This project seemed incredibly daunting once I realized how big it could be, but I think in retrospect, it’s taught me a lot of valuable lessons.”
Committee member Michael Miceli, a high-school sophomore, will take over the initiative next year. He also sees the importance of the swap.
“Me myself, as a person who plays sports in Moorestown, I have a lot of old equipment cluttering up my garage,” he acknowledged, “and there’s a lot of people that need sports equipment to use. So I thought it was a great idea how instead of just throwing it all away or selling it, that you could give it to people who need the equipment to use.”
Balls, bats, rackets, sticks, mitts, clubs, flags and bags can be donated, as well as clothing items that include footwear, skates, pinnies, pads and Moorestown swag.
“I think this year is going to be a great success,” Miceli said of the swap, which sponsors hope will be held annually. “A lot of people play sports in Moorestown and definitely have old equipment that’s gently used to give to people. And I think even people that collect equipment from this year’s can even recycle it into next year’s, and so it can keep going into an ongoing cycle.
“I think that that’s one of the great parts about it, how it’ll just keep going and going.”
For more information on additional collection locations and events, visit www.sites.google.com/mtps.us/sports-equipment-swap/how-to-donate?authuser=0.
