WBZ Cares: Good Sports Helps All Children Be Active
BOSTON (CBS) - Each month, WBZ Cares highlights a worthy non-profit organization, and tells the story of what that organization does for the community.
This month's organization, "Good Sports," a Quincy-based organization that gives all kids the lifelong benefits of sports and physical activity by providing sporting equipment to those most in need.
Try to imagine growing up with no sports. No little league games on weekends or hearing the cheers of family coming from the sidelines or in the stands.
Raising kids without sports has become the new reality for some families.
But that new reality is changing thanks to Good Sports making sure sports equipment gets to kids who need it. Christy Keswick, Chief Operating Officer for the organization, says she and long-time friend and CEO Melissa Harper, founded the organization in 2003.
"Melissa and I actually shared an office at our first job out of college. So that's how we met. And became fast friends and worked together on a lot of different types of projects and always said that should the opportunity come up to, you know, do something really great together that we really wanted to work together in the future." said Keswick.
Melissa Haper says they started small "Our first donation was 500 basketballs from Spalding, at the time, they were based in Chicopee, and we drove out there with a PowerPoint presentation and an idea" she said.
And they really got rolling from there.
"We've now grown to donate over $20-million dollars' worth of equipment to four million kids across the country." said Harper.
Helping deserving kids in all 50 states. Keswick says they get a lot of help from sporting goods companies.
"We don't do this alone. We work with everybody from local organizations like Reebok and New Balance to Nike and Under Armor. And we have really gotten most of the industry to rally around what we are doing." Christy said.
Harper says the need is definitely there.
"Now we distribute P.E. and recess kits to schools that are struggling with their budgets. We distribute to afterschool sports programs, boys and girls clubs and community centers. We just want to make sure kids find their passion and have a chance to play every day."
For more information about Good Sports, visit: goodsports.org or the WBZ Cares section on the CBSBoston.com website during the month of March.
