by KYW’s Matt Leon

It’s called "Pitch In For Baseball," and it’s a Fort Washington, Pa. based charity that collects new and lightly used youth baseball and softball equipment and then distributes it around the Philadelphia area and the world to groups in need.

It’s a simple concept. People either drop off or ship the equipment they no longer need to Pitch In For Baseball, and it ends up at their Fort Washington warehouse, where it’s inspected, organized, and eventually shipped out again to a group or team desperately in need of it.

Executive director David Rhode says they have exploded since its inception in 2006:

“Our goal as an organization was to collect enough equipment to help three programs. We ended up distributing equipment and uniforms to 16 programs in 2006. That number grew to 70 in 2007, and to date in 2008 we are over 170 programs.”

Rhode says they have shipped equipment to some 50 countries, but they also have a strong presence in the city.

No equipment to donate? The group welcomes financial help as well, and they are looking to find a new warehouse to call home, as they have to leave their current one this fall.

For more information, go to www.pitchinforbaseball.org.