Organized sports are widely believed to help keep lower income kids off the streets and more involved in school activities but how are these kids supposed to play baseball without bats?

In her DonorsChoose proposal Mrs. L from Virginia writes:

I am the coach of the county's eighth grade softball team. We are from
a low-income community where male sports receive more funding than
female sports.

At our first game the umpires checked our bats
for game legality. We discovered that of the four bats we had, only one
was actually legal to use in a game. We requested more bats for the
girls, but were told they were too expensive to buy considering the
other supplies we needed (helmets).

These six bats will go a
great way towards ensuring current and future success for our softball
program. The players need to get accustomed to the type of pitching and
hitting that is required from them in Varsity sports and the only way
to ensure that is to supply the fundamentals at the beginning.

It is tough being a teenager. It is even tougher being a girl in Jr. High School. I know you remember (unless, like me you are still trying to block your awkward years) what it was like - trying to be an individual and fit in at the same time.

Now think about going through all that and then being thwarted when you tried to play softball and solely for the reason that you couldn't afford decent equipment.

This donation will truly mean a lot to these girls as well as us
coaches. Our girls want to be as successful as the boys' sports and
this donation can help make this possible. If the school can't help us,
maybe you can!

My
players need legal bats that they can use for batting practice and
games. This proposal will allow for six bats of varying sizes and
lengths for different girls.

This is an easy one. They are only asking for $577 to cover some new bats. THEY CANNOT PLAY WITHOUT THEM. Maybe we could throw in a little bit extra and buy them some batting helmets to. What do you say?

You can give to Batter Up right here.

Have you been following the other DonorsChoose projects that my fellow BlogHers have chosen? The are all good causes but please, if you are in any position to do so please help out one of these outstanding charities.

Contributing Editor Sarah also blogs at Sarah and the Goon Squad and Draft Day Suit.