If your child needs new sports equipment to start the school year, there’s a program to get it for free. The Washington YMCA hosts the free sports equipment exchange. Ryan Harris with the YMCA says it’s a way to benefit the community, “So that kids and parents didn’t have to go out and buy brand new stuff each season. We recognized just the need in the community where, you know, you buy cleats or baseball bats and you use them for five, six games and then you outgrow it by the next season. And those things are all costing a lot of money whether it’s $60 for a pair of cleats or hundreds of dollars for a baseball bat. So we decided to start having people in the community donate equipment to us and then people can come in whether they’re in the Y programs, the middle school, traveling ball, whoever you are, you can come in, get whatever you need, take as much as you would like.”

It’s available for anyone, not only Y members. Donations of new or gently used cleats, gloves, helmets, bats and more can be dropped off at any time. The next time the equipment exchange is scheduled to be open is Saturday, September 7th. Harris also invites people to set up a time before that with him to check out what is available.