A grassroots organization that encourages kids to play in local parks has a new home and is planning another free sports equipment giveaway.
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More than 15 volunteers gathered at Earl Haig Family Fun Center on April 20 to pack up donated skateboards, hockey sticks, baseball bats and gloves in support of Free Sport For Growth. They then loaded boxes of sports equipment onto trucks and transported them to the organization’s new home at Cockshutt Park on Sherwood Drive.
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Owned and operated by the City of Brantford, Earl Haig is planning for its summer opening prompting a search for a new home for Free Sports For Growth.
“This a great location for us,” Ross Enslev, who along with his friend Dave Levac, formed Free Sport For Growth. “There is always a lot going on at Cockshutt Park during the summer.
“We’ll be right in the thickness of things and we’re hoping more people will become aware of what we’re doing.”
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Volunteers are gearing up for the next sports equipment giveaway on May 4 from 10 am to noon at Cockshutt Park.
The organization has had two giveaways so far including one held Jan. 6, which saw the distribution of sticks, skates, gloves, shoulder pads and jerseys to more than 40 kids. The first giveaway, held just before Christmas, attracted about 80 kids accompanied by their parents.
“We’re here to provide equipment to any child anywhere,” Enslev said. “We don’t care where the kids come from we just hope they get the equipment they need to enjoy a sport.”
Established by Enslev and Levac, Free Sport for Growth is an effort to get kids active and playing in neighborhood parks. Levac, a former Brantford-Brant MPP, was a teacher before entering politics and Enslev is a retired teacher and coach. Both have seen the value of outdoor play for child development.
Free Sport For Growth is a way of bringing back the joys of outdoor play to today’s kids and future generations.
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