Free sports equipment is available to anyone in Washington today through the YMCA Sports Equipment Exchange Program. 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.”

In addition to saving money for local families, it gives new life to sports equipment that may otherwise be shoved to the back of a closet, tossed in a garage, or put in a landfill. It’s available for anyone, not only Y members. A variety of shoes, clothes, and equipment is available with different sizes and many sports. It is open 9 a.m. to noon the first Saturday of every month at the YMCA in Washington.