After the pandemic halted youth sports in 2020, a local softball team is kicking off its season with a surprise gift that has all of the players and parents elated.
In honor of Jackie Robinson Day, April 15, FOX Sports recently donated bats, helmets, fielding gloves, batting gloves, catching gear, pitch returns, cleats and jerseys to the Urban Youth Initiative in Hunts Point, which gave these items to their girls softball team, the Bronx Rebels.
This initiative is part of FOX Sports’ ongoing support of the Restore Play initiative with national nonprofit partner Good Sports. Restore Play aims to keep kids active and engaged in sports throughout the pandemic by providing at least $15 million in sports and fitness gear to thousands of youth organizations and children across the country who have endured significant setbacks due to COVID-19.
“When I learned FOX Sports was going to help our baseball and softball programs with a generous gift of equipment, I was almost reluctant to believe it,” said Urban Youth Initiative Executive Director Julian Forbes. “The youth that will benefit from this have expressed overwhelming joy and appreciation and I look forward to bringing the gift of sports to many of the Bronx’s deserving youth.”
Forbes, 39, who founded the Urban Youth Initiative in 2014, told the Bronx Times that the girls had no idea Fox was going to make the donation and thought they were just there for a scrimmage.
“The kids that received the items deserved it,” he stressed. “Personally I’m absolutely grateful for the acknowledgment.”
