Baseball game fateful

Leads to Mitzvah project helping team

Anna Harmon
The Post and Courier

Cory Ward (from left), Steven White, Christopher Ward and Justin White, help Jake Spandorfer (with hockey sticks) unload gently used sporting goods that will be used for their summer enrichment and fall programs.

One fateful baseball game in late spring, 13-year-old Jake Spandorfer's City of Charleston recreational team played a Trident Area Boys and Girls Club team.

It just so happened that the team was coached by Troy Thames, the Mount Pleasant director of the Boys and Girls clubs who they had recently contacted for a list of supplies the club needed.

"The list (we sent) was huge," Thames said. "They asked, 'Will you please put a lot on there?' "

Earlier, Jake and his mother, Roxann Spandorfer, had been tossing around ideas for his mitzvah project, which means "good deeds project." To demonstrate leadership and kindness in preparation of their coming-of-age event, bar and bat mitzvah students are supposed to perform a project of their choosing.

"I had a lot of (sports) stuff too small for me, and stuff I never used. I was like, 'Oh, we should give it to a club.' "

Jake had noticed unused sporting equipment at his friends' houses as well, and by early May was calling to collect it for Boys and Girls clubs.

For $4, inner city youth ages 6-18 get a yearlong membership at a local Boys and Girls club. Many of these receive scholarships for the membership fee. Programs and services promote development of boys and girls by instilling a sense of competence and belonging, all in a safe and fun environment. The clubs have been in need of donations for the summer enrichment program, and to prepare for the fall season up ahead.

On. Aug. 8, Jake headed to the Shaw unit of the Boys and Girls Club in downtown Charleston to drop off a truck and sport utility vehicle full of gently used sporting equipment and games.

"(They brought) a lot of the balls that we needed, a lot of the baseball equipment that we needed," Thames said. "But I was really impressed with the skateboarding stuff and the pool table. ... A lot of the stuff we needed, and they came through with it."

Jake's bar mitzvah is Aug. 23, and he's planning on collecting more donations for the Boys and Girls clubs until then.

"It took a lot of hard work to do but it was good," Jake said. "I like to see everyone happy."