A recap of last year’s tzedakah fest is below. Stay tuned for this year’s charity drive.

Can you imagine a kid who has never picked up a baseball glove or basketball? Can you imagine a kid who has never played a game of football or soccer? The harsh reality is that many kids in the San Fernando Valley have never been had the opportunity to participate in any kid of sports.

Synagogue Softball has the chance to change their reality.

New Directions for Youth (NDY), a nonprofit organization centered in North Hollywood,  provides programs and services to more than 3,000 at-risk youth each year in the east and north San Fernando Valley, where gang activity is alarmingly high. Many of the high-risk young people served by NDY cannot be mainstreamed into traditional youth development programs because of gang affiliation, early pregnancy, and/or prior contact with the juvenile justice system. For nearly 40 years, NDY has  offered the only safe haven for these troubled youth.

We have a chance to make a difference. How many of us have old gloves, bats, and other various equipment of any sport taking up space in the garage? How many of us have kids of our own who play organized sports and have outgrown their own equipment? It’s time to give that equipment a better home.

Here’s how to help: Please bring your discarded balls, gloves, bats and other sports gear to the field you’re playing on during the month of April. Or you donate money with checks to be made out New Directions for Youth.

Representatives from NDY will be available to collect all donated items and answer any questions you may have.

Our surplus sports equipment could be a child’s treasured possession.
Please access the New Direction for Youth website for more information. You will quickly see how collectively, Synagogue Softball can really make a difference.