Beat the Streets is proud to announce the launch of our GearUp! campaign which aims to provide athletic gear and apparel for 3,000 young wrestlers across the country.
“Making sure our student-athletes are equipped properly when they enter practice every day is so important in achieving our mission of empowering youth through the sport of wrestling,” said Executive Director Ben Reiter.
This campaign will cover the cost of wrestling shoes, athletic apparel, sports bras, mouth guards, and headgear for BTS boys and girls in the upcoming wrestling season..
Studies have shown that children living in poverty are six times more likely to quit athletic pursuits due to the costs. Providing necessary gear not only supports our existing athletes, but opens the doors to many new participants. In addition to providing the opportunity to step on the mat, new gear helps each young wrestler start their season with confidence.
The goal of this campaign is to raise $150,000 dollars in the month of October. Thanks to our partners, we will be able to provide $600,000 worth of gear for the $150,000 we raise. With their help, your donation will be stretched four times as far! That means for a $50 dollar donation, you can provide one wrestler with $200 worth of gear.
We would like to give a very special thanks to our amazing partners at ASICS, Gear2Compete, Good Sports, and the Good Fight Foundation! “We are tremendously grateful to our partners for making this campaign possible,” said Ben Reiter. “We wouldn’t be able to do it without their help.”
“At Good Sports, we believe cost should not be a barrier for participation in sports and fitness activities,” said CEO and Co-Founder, Melissa Harper. “Through this partnership, we are able to provide the proper apparel, so these youth athletes are set up for success, both on and off the mat.”
“Giving young athletes the opportunity to compete in the sport of wrestling means a lot to us,” said Chris Lenzi at Gear2Compete. “And we are extremely proud to support an organization like Beat the Streets which does so much for young athletes.”
Please consider making a donation and sharing this campaign on social media so we can reach as many people as possible.
“At Beat the Streets, we strive to make sure that every young wrestler has what they need for success on the mat, in school, and in life,” said Reiter. “And we thank you for being a part of the Beat the Streets family!”
Beat the Streets National is a network of youth-development social impact organizations with chapters operating out of Baltimore, Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit, Lancaster, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, New England, New York City, San Francisco Bay Area, and Washington DC. BTS independent chapter organizations collectively serve over 8,400 youth each year, and have invested over $32 million into under-resourced youth and communities since 2005. Beat the Streets organizations across the country have established a successful track record of engaging and inspiring a diverse population of youth by creating mentoring, academic support, and wrestling programs in some of the most vulnerable urban communities. With the formation of BTS National, BTS Organizations are more unified than ever, and ready to continue advancing the BTS mission to thousands of more youth in need.
Thank you to our sponsors:
