A new Burnaby-based charity has made its first donation to a group that helps kids with cognitive and physical disabilities play baseball.
Freshslice Cares was founded by the folks at Freshslice Pizza as a way to give back to the communities it serves. Run out of an office in Burnaby, all the expenses are covered by Freshslice head office so that all the funds raised are donated to charities, and the first charity chosen was the North Shore Challenger Baseball Division, which received $1,500 earlier this month, according to a press release.
Challenger Baseball is part of Baseball BC and has leagues all across the province, including in Burnaby. Its goal is to provide kids who have physical or cognitive disabilities an opportunity to play ball. How they do this is by bringing in volunteer buddies to help kids during the game – with everything from pushing wheelchairs around bases to coaching the kids on proper batting technique to helping field balls, according to the release.
The North Shore division has about 85 players in its league and more than 200 volunteers.
“We greatly appreciate this generous grant from Freshslice Cares. This will help us continue with our mandate helping those with disabilities enjoy the benefits of a rewarding, adaptable team sport environment,” said Tony Makowsky, coordinator, Challenger Division, Highlands Little League, in the release.
Funds raised by Freshslice Cares comes from in-store customer donations, fundraisers, community donations, corporate sponsorships and donations by store owners.
Freshslice Cares is now accepting applications for funding. For more information and to apply for a grant, go to www.freshslice.com/cares.
