Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida is teaming up with the Fort Myers Miracle to offer free baseball in exchange for donations.
Starting today, Goodwill will accept donations at Hammond Stadium through Saturday.
Baseball fans donating a bag or box of clothing during the drive receive a free general admission ticket voucher, good for any Miracle home game after Saturday.
“We’ve been looking for more community donation drives, looking for donors who wouldn’t be necessarily donating or thinking of doing it,” said Kirsten O’Donnell from Goodwill.
She said that because of the economy the nonprofit organization is getting the same number of people offering donations, but they are donating fewer materials.
Though typically this time of the year is slow for donations, O’Donnell said it only makes sense for people to hang on to unwanted items longer and for shoppers to spend less in the stores.
“We have more customers coming in, but they’re spending less,” she said. “And people are hanging on to their stuff longer, or selling it on eBay or at garage sales to make extra money, and I don’t blame them.”
Hopefully the donation drive will be the shot in the arm that Goodwill needs, as it serves not only Lee County but Glades, Hendry, Collier, and Charlotte.
Organizers are hoping that two of the games, which feature the Charlotte Stone Crabs, will be a big draw for minor league fans from both counties.
“We’ve done events together but never gotten together like this. They’re definitely an important part of our community,” said Miracle promotions director Gary Sharp. “So we wanted to have a night when we have larger crowds.”
Sharp and O’Donnell agreed that a box or bag full of clothes is not required to obtain a free ticket. A single item will suffice, though the more clothes the better.
On Friday, the Miracle will also offer free Miracle caps to the first 750 through the gates.
For more information, contact Goodwill Industries of Southwest Florida at 995-2106 or the Miracle Baseball office at 768-4210.