Captains coordinate giving

A CAPTAIN’S Camp initiative has collected an estimated $70,000 worth of sporting equipment for disadvantaged communities around Australia.

On the ground: Jeremy Salinger and Andy Taylor help Captain Camp participant Paul Hinkley in his search for second hand sports equipment donations along with Connor Williams.

The Captains Camp program which promotes leadership and social strengths in young sports people saw more than 20 teams of scavengers hit the streets of their town collecting second hand equipment on Sunday.
Program coordinator Jamin Heppell, former Leongatha man, was overwhelmed by the response from the communities.
“It was such a bigger event than we could’ve ever anticipated; it was just out of this world,” he said.
“We had about 20 teams out in different towns collecting stuff and we acquired more than 14,000 items which would have totalled over $70,000 worth of equipment.
“We were waiting to put all the stuff together and these two metre cube crates were filled by the first two groups to arrive.”
Mr Heppell said half the groups arrived with trailers full of equipment while the rest came with large four wheel drives filled with items.
This community action plan is run in conjunction with YMCA Victoria.
“One of their projects is RE1 (Rerun) where they identify communities in need and then attribute sporting equipment to them,” he said.
“Recently they have been working in Braybrook in Western Melbourne, an indigenous community up in Mildura and also in Katherine in the North Territory.”
Mr Heppell believes this equipment will be going to these communities.
“What we want to do is follow the story of what this donation has meant for the communities so the captains, their teammates and our community can see the impact they have had,” he said.
The 2013 Captains Camp program is run by non-profit organisation Game Changers – Australia and will wind up with a three day camp in early December.

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Posted by Jacob De Kunder on Nov 26 2013. Filed under Featured, Sport. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry