Go Green Glen Ellyn teams with park district for next SportSwap

The Glen Ellyn Park District and Go Green Glen Ellyn will have a SportSwap from 1 to 3 p.m. July 23, allowing residents to recycle their gently used sporting goods by trading them in for items they might need in the fall sports season.

Residents can turn in their equipment from July 18 to 22 at Ackerman Sports & Fitness Center, 800 St. Charles Road, Glen Ellyn, and receive a voucher depending on the item contributed, according to a news release. Donations of equipment also will be accepted. Residents can purchase equipment directly with a credit card or cash on July 23, whether or not they have vouchers. Sanitized water bottles not claimed from the Ackerman Sports & Fitness Center’s lost and found will be available for purchase for $1 each.

Proceeds from the SportSwap will benefit the Friends of Glen Ellyn Parks’ scholarship fund that helps residents who may be struggling financially to participate in programming through the Glen Ellyn Park District.

“While we love raising money for the scholarship fund, the swap provides a savings for local families as most equipment still has plenty of life in it,” Go Green co-founder and president Jacquelyn Casazza said in the release. “Importantly, SportSwap helps keep the things a family outgrows from ending up in a landfill.”

The first SportSwap, held in April 2022, kept 20 pounds of uniforms and more than 100 water bottles out of the landfill and found new homes for 98 balls and 40 pairs of cleats, among other sporting equipment.

Remaining bottles, cleats and soccer balls were donated to the newly formed soccer program at Glen Ellyn Children’s Resource Center. Additional leftover balls from other sports were donated to a local school’s physical education department. Other items swapped included sleds, ballet shoes, softball and baseball gloves and bats, ice and roller skates, tennis racquets, golf clubs, equipment bags and skis.

For information about the SportSwap and items accepted, visit gepark.org/gepdevent/sport-swap-july or www.gogreenglenellyn.org/sportswap.

Go Green Glen Ellyn is a new nonprofit grassroots environmental organization dedicated to helping Glen Ellyn become greener and its citizens live more sustainably. Focus areas include nurturing and creating usable green space at home and in the community and fostering the sustainable use of resources at homes and businesses.