Donations pour in after gear, items stolen from local Little League

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A nonprofit made a generous donation after thieves stole several items from a Little League last week.

It takes a lot of work to maintain a baseball field, and now, a Little League team has even more work ahead thanks to a break-in.

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University East Little League President Keith Minder said last week, "We discovered that the lawn mower, all of our concession food items and our grill had been removed from the shed.”

"When you've got good folks out willing to spend time with kids, you just want to support them," said Eric Smith, co-founder of TTFY.

The nonprofit donated $5,000 to University East Little League after hearing about the break-in.

TTFY has a warehouse filled with donated baseball gear and more.

“Things like this allow us to offset some of the other costs,” Minder said Thursday.

TTFY started as a grassroots effort in North Carolina and spread to communities across the country.

"That's what we're after -- to support them, to support the kids that have the need and let baseball be accessible to everyone," TTFY co-founder Billy Owens said.

Each week, kids arrive at the ballfield ready to play.

They may not realize what it takes to get the diamond ready, but Minder does, and for the last month, the league has had to use personal equipment that isn't as effective and takes more than double the amount of time.

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“We had to reshuffle the schedule a little bit to allow for that, and it also slows down the game," Minder said last week after the thefts occurred.

Minder said he spotted the Little League’s stolen grill for sale in a parking lot along Brookshire Boulevard on Thursday.

"I had a friend with me and he was, like, 'No way,' and I was, like, 'I'm pretty sure that's it,'" Minder said.

Minder said he was positive it was the same grill after spotting unique markings on it and matching the serial numbers, so he demanded the seller give it back.

"Eventually, he said, ‘I don't want any trouble. I don’t steal from kids. Here, you can have the grill back,’" Minder said.

Minder told Channel 9 he reached out to police, but they didn't charge anyone.

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Officers said it’s hard to prove who stole the items without concrete evidence.

"It's very frustrating because I feel like we're getting closer to recovering our property, but it comes to a screeching halt," Minder said.

"They (TTFY) responded, Minder said Thursday. “They saw the need and it's always supporters like this that make all of this possible.”

After receiving the donations, University Little League plans to install surveillance cameras at the ballpark.

It has also received other donations including, $20,000 from East Charlotte Nissan car dealership.

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