After years of watching perfectly good sports equipment gather dust or head straight to the landfill – cast aside thanks to ever-changing league requirements, lost interest, or simple neglect – I decided something had to change.
Understanding the importance that quality gear has on an athlete and their level of play, I began to see how wasting that equipment was a failure of both conscience and community, and I started reaching out to see who could use the equipment wasting away in my own garage. This seemingly small gesture led me to discover a family whose needs perfectly fit that of what I had to donate. From that interaction alone, I realized just how many people shared their needs, and I knew there was a way to do more.
That realization became Gear2Give: my own nonprofit organization centered around repurposing used sports equipment for underserved communities. What started as a local effort quickly grew into something much more impactful. The relationships I’ve formed within (and beyond) my community have been nothing short of eye-opening, teaching me about the innate civic connection ingrained in every level of the recycling process. Conservation, I’ve learned, isn’t just about reducing waste; it’s about redistribution, equity, and meeting genuine human needs with the resources we already have.
And the deeper truth? Waste isn’t natural. When we throw things away instead of putting them back into circulation, we’re not just being inefficient — we’re actively reinforcing inequality. Gear2Give isn’t just about equipment, it’s about rethinking what we value, and remembering that conservation is a fundamental component of civic engagement.
Just as a healthy environment benefits everybody in a community, the degradation of the world around us can exacerbate the obstacles faced by many marginalized groups around the globe. What I’ve come to realize through my nonprofit work is that conservation is more than an environmental issue: it is a profound civic responsibility, ensuring that we do not waste valuable resources in the name of our comfort.
Recycling in particular (in our case, the recycling and donation of quality sports equipment) is a key element of civic conservation. There is no reason that working sports equipment belongs in a landfill, when a child in an underserved community goes without a bat or a glove simply due to their lack of resources. Waste like this is not only a net-negative for global pollution, it is a net-negative for society at large – a lazy misallocation of resources that has the potential to drive genuine change for the people who need it most.
Research shows that children who play sports experience dramatic improvement in mental health and physical fitness, while simultaneously developing crucial life skills like goal-setting and discipline. Providing equitable access to sports in low-income areas can promote youth development by offering mentorship opportunities, cultivating strong social skills, and supporting local initiatives. It is also a surefire way to establish a sense of community among marginalized groups, building upon the inherent human unity at the heart of sports.
We’ve already started to see the impact of my sports equipment recycling efforts throughout Los Angeles county, where we provided over 3,000 pieces of equipment to underserved youth. Our donations have turned a waste problem into a spark of hope and enjoyment for children across California, and these results have inspired me to expand this proactive style of conservation outside the state as well. So far I’ve donated 1,700 pieces of equipment to youth sports programs in Mexico – with future plans to provide services for children in Brazil through Instituto Trindade, and children in Kenya with Sports Aid Africa.
The true civic impact of my work has also started to surface locally. After partnering with Big Brothers Big Sisters of Orange County, Gear2Give helped contribute to their newly-launched mentorship program, Sports Buddies. With 250 new pieces of much-needed equipment, they were able to provide baseball activities that foster trust and teamwork between mentors and mentees.
Today, I can see the impact of civic-minded conservation before my own eyes. Our work granted dozens of kids the chance to play catch for the first time. To join their first team and make their first friends. For the children in Sports Buddies, our donations were more than just gear – they served as a gateway to connection, growth, and opportunity.
Looking forward, I hope that my volunteer work will do more than simply providing equipment for those who need it most – I want to spark discussions around the true sources of inequity across our communities, and to teach others how conservation is about more than simply saving the planet. It’s about recognizing that environmental neglect and social marginalization often go hand-in-hand, and meaningful civic engagement starts with understanding how the resources we cast aside could be life-changing for somebody else.
Imagine if we, as a society, began to really focus on repurposing everything we discard. We could shift the culture from one of waste to one of responsibility, confronting the apathy that contributes to our landfills. If more people take the lessons of Gear2Give to heart – starting their own initiatives, opening chapters across states, and partnering with local organizations like we’ve already done in areas like D.C. — could reshape the discussion around conservation from a point of human impact. Because at its core, conservation is civic engagement. It is a vote for equity, and a pursuit that drives progress and support for the world at large.
