Mohawk Baseball & Softball Association in New Castle, PA, received an equipment grant in 2020 as part of the Pirates Charities and Tull Family Foundation program, which provided baseball and softball gear to 20 leagues in Pennsylvania and one program in West Virginia.
In November of 2019, a fire destroyed the home where one of the boys and his grandmother were living. They lost everything except the clothes they were wearing. The school and community helped support the family with donations of food and money, and the league was able to provide the boy with baseball equipment for the season after receiving the grant. Baseball is what helped restore some normalcy in the boy’s life.
In 2019, the league served nearly 300 boys and girls from the ages of 5 to 15. In the Mohawk Area School District, 42% of students qualified for free or reduced lunch, and many families can not afford the expense of purchasing baseball or softball equipment. The league typically has to direct the majority of its resources to field upkeep, leaving very little, if any, for equipment.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the league was not able to open its concession stand, which is usually a main source of funding. Mohawk Baseball & Softball Association provides free equipment and reduced entry fees for boys and girls with economic hardship, but the program shared that they would not have been able to do so in 2020 if not for the equipment received in the grant.
· Years Involved:2020, 2021