Matthew Scott, director of Faison’s Recreation and Wellness Center, unpacks a shipment of volleyballs and soccer balls, all received as part of a grant from Good Sports, a nonprofit based in Braintree, MA, that provides brand-new sports equipment to programs that serve high-need communities. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
Faison Mayor Billy Ward, left, and Recreation and Wellness Center Director Matthew Scott agree that an equipment grant from the nonprofit Good Sports will be a tremendous help to the Town, to the Recreation Center, and to the 500+ kids who enroll in the Center’s sports programs annually. (Kathy Grant Westbrook|mountolivetribune.com)
FAISON — The town’s Recreation and Wellness Center has lately been reveling in an almost-too-good-to-be-true scenario: Boxes of brand-new sports and athletic equipment, earmarked for the Center’s various recreation programs, have been steadily pouring into town — and at almost no cost to the Center or the Town.
It all started with a grant received by the Recreation Center under the sponsorship of the nonprofit Faison Improvement Group. Town resident Mike Stempek discovered and researched the grant, which was awarded by Good Sports, a nonprofit dedicated to helping high-need communities provide sports and other physical activity opportunities to youth ages 3 to 18, by supplying the programs in these communities with brand-new equipment, apparel, and footwear.
To get the ball rolling, so to speak, Good Sports requested information about the population served by Faison’s Recreation Center, such as how many children participate in its programs, the income level of the families served, etc. Based on this information, according to Recreation Center Director Matthew Scott, Good Sports determined that the Center would pay a shipping cost of $1000 per year and would then be entitled to four orders of equipment that year (one order per season) — at no additional cost and with no cap on how much could be ordered. This arrangement was locked in for five years. According to Good Sports’ website, it enters into five-year partnerships with its grant recipients, in the hopes that this extended period of time will give programs time to “build a sustainability plan that continues beyond Good Sports’ five-year commitment.”
Since its inception in 2003, Good Sports reports that it has donated over $100 million worth of new sports equipment to programs across all 50 states and in Puerto Rico. The nonprofit says it has impacted the lives of close to 10 million kids; a few hundred kids in Faison are now being added to that number.
When Scott and Faison Mayor Billy Ward describe the grant’s potential impact on the town, they are almost at a loss for words. “Too good to be true” pops up again and again. In fact, both admit that it was so good that they wondered if it might be a scam.
Scott recounts sending Good Sports the $1000 shipping payment for Faison’s first year — and then “going shopping” online at the organization’s 40,000-square-foot warehouse, located in Braintree, Massachusetts. The problem was that, despite a warehouse filled to the brim with a wide variety of new athletic equipment and apparel (from sporting goods manufacturers that collaborate with the nonprofit), none of the inventory matched Faison’s needs. Scott was hit with the sinking feeling that he’d just thrown away $1000.
But he spoke with a representative of Good Sports, who asked him to submit a list of Faison’s equipment needs for the fall season, and Scott complied, detailing needs for soccer, volleyball, and tennis, as well as the Center’s fitness and afterschool programs. The items on the list totaled $15,000 — and Good Sports fulfilled the entire order — and added in extra items, as well. Multiple boxes began arriving daily at Scott’s doorstep, filled with the following: for volleyball — balls and knee pads; for soccer — balls, shin guards, mini speed hurdles, agility ladders, equipment bags, goals, goalie gloves, and tube socks; for tennis — racquets and balls; for the afterschool program — base sets and plastic balls and bats; for the fitness and wellness program — fitness kits and adjustable cable jump ropes.
In December, Scott will submit an order for the Center’s winter season, with basketball — one of the Center’s biggest programs — being the focus.
The cost to each child for participation at the Recreation Center is $45 per sport, which, according to Scott is less than what many other recreation departments are charging. Faison has been able to keep its costs low, he asserts, thanks to the support of the community and to local business sponsorships.
Additionally, families are expected to pay for their children’s individual needs — uniforms, cleats etc. But some families don’t have the means to do so, and that’s where the Recreation Center has always turned to the local community for help. “There’s a massive need in our area,” Scott says of the population served by the Recreation Center.
He points out that the Center went from serving 120 kids per year just three or four years ago to serving over 500 a year now. “We’ve got kids coming from everywhere,” he notes. In volleyball and soccer alone, 300 kids are currently enrolled.
The equipment grant from Good Sports will go a long way — a very long way — toward ensuring that no child who wants to participate in sports or other athletic activities at the Center is ever prevented from doing so because of financial constraints.
“It’s a game changer,” Scott says. “It makes it possible for us to keep up [with exploding enrollments] and not blow our budget.”
Ward concurs, noting, “It takes a lot of expense off the town.” He credits both Scott and Stempek with the effort they put forth to get the grant.
Thanks to Good Sports, everybody — kids, families, the Town, the Recreation Center — is winning.
For more information about programs at the Faison Recreation and Wellness Center, visit the Center’s Facebook page or call 910-267-0115.
For more information about Good Sports, go to www.goodsports.org.
