GRANVILLE, Ohio — Most people pack away old sports gear once they’re done with it. But one Granville freshman is giving those baseball gloves a second life — and sending them thousands of miles away to kids who need them.
What You Need To Know
A Granville freshman is collecting donated baseball gloves and sending them to kids in the Dominican Republic who can’t afford proper gear
The project began as a middle-school class assignment but continued on Everett’s own after he was inspired by MLB legend Mariano Rivera, who grew up playing with a cardboard glove
He donated 41 gloves last year, hopes to collect about 40 more this year and now has donation boxes set up across Granville and Newark
Everett Heckman began collecting donated baseball gloves last year as part of a project in James Browder’s middle school class, where students are encouraged to turn a personal passion into a real-world impact.
“The point is to give kids time and space in their day to figure out what their passion is, and then to feel the encouragement to go out in the world and do something powerful inside of it, to be a change maker,” said Browder.
For Heckman, that passion has always been baseball. But the way he thought about the sport changed after he watched a video about Hall of Fame pitcher Mariano Rivera, who grew up playing without a glove.
“There was a video of a baseball player named Mariano Rivera who… grew up without a baseball glove. And I kind of fell in love with that video,” Heckman said. “It sort of touched me on the inside, because when you’re so connected to one thing like I am to baseball… seeing other kids who don’t have that same opportunity… makes me, well, sad I guess, and so more determined.”
Rivera made his first baseball glove out of cardboard, and Everett wanted to help kids facing that same struggle.
That led him to focus on the Dominican Republic, where baseball is deeply rooted in culture but equipment can be expensive and hard to access. Heckman partnered with a local volunteer who regularly travels there and hand-delivers the gloves directly to children.
Last year, he collected and donated 41 gloves. This year, he’s hoping for about 40 more — but this time, he’s doing it on his own, long after the class assignment ended.
“It’s one thing to do it for a class… but the fact that he… wanted to continue it on, makes it just extra special. It flexes that empathy that I think is inside of him,” Browder said.
For Heckman, every glove counts.
“One glove can change a kid’s whole life… the difference between 41 and 42… is a whole (other) kid getting to play the game like they… well, they haven’t before,” he said.