Shownotes
"They can grab a cart, grab a clipboard, and essentially go shopping free of charge for whatever they need to support their program."— Eric Rutkowski
We welcome Eric Rutkowski, the program director for Leveling The Playing Field Ohio. Eric shares his inspiring mission to support youth sports across Ohio by ensuring that programs in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati can share equipment and resources.
We'll talk about the importance of community donations, the need for unrestricted funds, and the desire for an independent warehouse to better serve these youth programs.
Eric will also discuss how teams and schools can apply for equipment, emphasize the critical role of volunteers, and share the aspirations for expanding this impactful initiative statewide.
Get ready to explore how sports can provide invaluable life lessons and opportunities for kids and how you can get involved in leveling the playing field for youth sports across Ohio.
Top Takeaways
Eric Rutkowski works to ensure that youth sports programs in Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati are aware of each other and can share sports equipment to maximize resources across Ohio.
Donations ensure that all sports equipment can be provided free of charge, and more staffing and a dedicated van are needed for better service.
Teams and schools can apply for sports equipment through a streamlined process.
The organization accepts various sports equipment, including specialized items, to introduce kids to new sports and broaden their experiences.
Volunteers play a vital role in sorting, inventorying, and cleaning the warehouse.
Equipment collection drives are a primary method for gathering donations, often organized as service projects by young people, which is crucial for sustaining the inventory.
Support from organizations like Besa and The Columbus Foundation have been instrumental in expanding Leveling The Playing Field to Ohio.
Leveling the Playing Field is a national organization with significant reach, having assisted over 2,000 organizations and donated over $14 million worth of sports equipment.
Key Moments
00:00 Active in nonprofits, sports, and community engagement.
03:43 Max Levitt saw equipment waste, started donation program.
06:59 Columbus organizations address declining youth sports trends.
13:13 Donating sports equipment to benefit many players.
16:31 LPF relies on grassroots efforts for equipment.
20:43 Installed collection bins at sports facilities and stores.
24:13 Educators access free gear to support programs.
25:52 Kids and families set up collection boxes.
30:58 Leveling the playing field for Ohio communities.
34:22 Secure donations and community support for growth.
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And of course, everything can be found on our website, Looking Forward Our Way.
Recorded in Studio C at 511 Studios. A production of Circle270Media Podcast Consultants.
Copyright 2024 Carol Ventresca and Brett Johnson
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/4.0/
Transcripts
We are Looking Forward Our Way from Studios C in the 511 Studios that's in the Brewery District just south of downtown Columbus, Ohio. Hi. This is Brett. How often have we attended our kids sports events or neighbor sports events or family sports events or driven a group from one field to another. Today's guest is going to tell us about a very special organization that supports those kids who may not have access to great sports experiences. Let's welcome Eric Rutkowski, program director for Leveling The Playing Field Ohio. Thanks for joining us.
Eric Rutkowski [:Thanks Thanks for having me. Really excited for this.
Carol Ventresca [:This is something different for us. We've not ever had a sports themed podcast and Brett's and I Brett and I have been doing this for a long time. But we just found it really fascinating because so many of my peers are trying to downsize their house, and needless to say, they got lots of stuff in their garages. And, hopefully, some of that stuff may be coming your way. So, we're really glad you're with us today to tell us about the organization. We're gonna dive into leveling the playing field and the work, but, and about distributing sports equipment to local schools and organizations that don't have enough funding, but first Way want to hear about you. So tell us about your professional journey and how you connected with the organization.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So, I've been working in, various nonprofits around Columbus for the last 7 or 8 years. I graduated from, Denison University in Granville, Ohio in 2016. And I grew up right here in in Columbus, playing sports, in Worthington Youth Boosters, and the YMCA, and for my schools, and kind of saw how important that was to me, connecting and fitting in and meeting people and, just teaching invaluable life lessons, that I I don't know where else I would have found those if I wasn't participating in in youth sports and having that access and having that opportunity that I did have growing up. In working in these various stops throughout Columbus, I've worked at at COSI. I've worked with, City Year Columbus. I worked with, most recently with, an immigrant and refugee serving organization, called ETSS. And throughout all these stops, I've, been able to connect with different groups throughout Columbus.
Eric Rutkowski [:And through all of those, in in some way, the the way kids connect and interact, I've seen how sports and recreation can can really be a catalyst for kids feeling involved, kids feeling included, kids being able to do something constructive that's that's healthy and teaching them how to be be a kid and how to how to be involved. So, I saw this, job opening up in Columbus to kind of start this and launch this, great work that was already being done in Columbus. And it it just seemed like a a perfect opportunity to put my background and the things I've been Looking, towards something that I'm really passionate about.
Brett Johnson [:So leveling the playing field is actually a national organization. It's got 4 4 locations on the East Coast from DC to New York, now Ohio. A couple of things, I wanted to ask. First, tell us how the organization began in the vision of of the founder, Max Levitt, and and why Columbus, Ohio? Why Ohio as well?
Eric Rutkowski [:The organization started with, like you said, with with Max Lovett, a little over 10 years ago. Max was a equipment manager at Syracuse, and he saw how much equipment was was going to waste. It was just kind of laying around not being used or being used one time and still had plenty of life in it. So he started collecting all that gear and giving it to schools and programs where it was needed. That turned out to be a pretty popular thing. And he kept finding more people with with more gear and more stuff sitting around in storage sheds or in closets and more need. So he just he got got a warehouse and set it up, kind of copied the the food bank model or the furniture model, a model that's been proven throughout the country as something that works and helps tons of families and communities, and just kind of applied it to, what he knew, and and that was sports, and really gained a lot of success. That warehouse grew and grew until they were ready to expand close by to Baltimore, and he just kinda kept going from there.
Brett Johnson [:Gotcha. Yeah. If there's any testament to that in regards to tons of sports stuff not being used, walk into a used sports place.
Eric Rutkowski [:Oh, yeah.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, my gosh. You know, so I mean, if your if your locale does not have that type, what do you do with it? Right. You want people to use it. I mean, basketballs are in good shape or, you know, hockey uniforms or whatever. Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:But how how often do you wear out a baseball bat unless you break it?
Brett Johnson [:No. That's true. Well, exactly. You either outgrow
Carol Ventresca [:it. Right.
Brett Johnson [:Or yeah. It gets all beat up from hitting rocks. Yeah. If that's still the thing. You know what I mean? But, yeah, you're right. It just ends up being in a big plastic container because the kids have outgrown it. They just don't use it anymore.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. And there's there's Brett much everyone I talk to. Everyone wants to find something good to do with this equipment. Any any sports league or program that has all this equipment says, I want this to go to a good place. What ends up happening then, they start storing it somewhere that it's it's a lot of work to to to store all the stuff and then to match what you have to exactly what a program might need. So if you can collect all that from everyone, let those programs come to you, tell you what they need, and just just have all of those resources in one spot. You can really find a perfect match for what those those programs need. Someone like the Cleveland Browns might have a 300 pair of cleats.
Eric Rutkowski [:But if you need 20 pairs of cleats, shoulder pads, pants, belts, all of that, then we can take all 300 of those cleats, and then those various pieces from other groups and kind of, perfectly match what a program might need.
Carol Ventresca [:So, Eric, as Brett mentioned, tell us a little bit about how the organization was expanded into Ohio. I mean, coming from the East Coast to Ohio
Eric Rutkowski [:organizations in Columbus already doing work in in youth sports. And then in 2021, the Aspen Institute did their project play analysis of of Columbus, Ohio, their project play report that they do that just kind of analyzes, the trends in youth sports in a community and then the actions that groups can take to address kind of these these declining trends or, trends of of inequity in in youth sports. So the Aspen Institute found that almost 3,000,000 kids had dropped out of youth sports before the age of 12, even before the pandemic. And as we know, the pandemic has exacerbated a lot of issues, and it's really the most vulnerable in our community are impacted that much more. So you can imagine that that has not gotten better just just post pandemic. So the the project play report analyzed Ventresca Ohio found why why there's inequitable access to youth sports, why these that why fewer and fewer kids are able to get involved in sports, and groups like the Columbus Foundation and the Lindy Infante Foundation that, participated in this report and helped put this together, looked to to solve that issue based on the report. So they actually reached out to leveling the playing field, saw the work we were doing. Stephanie Infante, who runs the Lindy Infante Foundation, invited us to look at Columbus, look at the impact that leveling the playing field could have here, and those those two groups and many more.
Eric Rutkowski [:But those two groups in particular helped to bring leveling the playing field to Columbus.
Carol Ventresca [:Well and we wanna give a shout out to our friend Dan Sharp at the Columbus Foundation. He's one of my favorite people in the world. But the the foundation does a phenomenal job with making sure our community has the resources that it needs through the nonprofit agencies. And so glad that Dan was part of this and that it's been successful.
Brett Johnson [:Alright. So the impact leveling the playing field has had in just a decade it is pretty phenomenal. Give us some of the specifics on the number of organizations served, you know, the amount of equipment distributed and how many kids in each of these communities have been given a unique opportunity to now be able to play and thrive?
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So nationally, over the last 10 plus years, Looking the Playing Field has been able to assist over 2,000 organizations, and donate over $14,000,000 worth of sports equipment. So that's that's kind of a mind blowing number, which is why I wanted to get involved to begin with. A lot of that equipment is is ending up in in schools with, physical education teachers, with coaches. A lot of the times, the the budget for sports equipment is is very, very small, shockingly small. A lot of these programs that that really want this top tier equipment or to let their kids try a new sport, that's coming out of that teacher's budget. That PE teacher, that coach, they're paying for all that themselves. If a PE teacher wants to introduce a new popular sport like lacrosse that maybe they do have basketballs and soccer balls, but they they can't let the kids try something that's gaining popularity because they might have to buy 80 lacrosse sticks and goals, and they they don't have these items.
Eric Rutkowski [:So, leveling the playing field is is able to not only support the programs that already exist, but allow programs to allow to support the start of programs in in other schools and communities.
Carol Ventresca [:Eric Eric, you brought up a really good point. And that is, Ohio is a football state.
Eric Rutkowski [:Right.
Carol Ventresca [:Everybody has a football team. They probably have a basketball team. Probably softball, baseball. But there are a lot of sports and a lot of kids who Way to do sports and they either don't Way to do football or maybe their family doesn't In In about 5 or 10 years, you're gonna have a lot of pickleball rackets.
Eric Rutkowski [:I'm excited. It's it's already started.
Carol Ventresca [:Exactly. And and there there are just other things that that kids can do. The other thing that it it's hitting me. We had a podcast yesterday with, a guest and we talked a lot about job seekers needing experience in leadership and teamwork. Well, this is the same thing, but we're taking these little kids and showing them how the the advantage of teamwork or the advantage of of looking at yourself and your own abilities and challenging yourself to be a better sports player. All of those kinds of things are really nurturing the kids. It's not to give them something to do. It really is helping them health wise, mentally, emotionally connect and work with the people in their schools and their classmates.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. A a 100%. And and that's something that we've see we've seen a lot of people look at sports participation as as, just a just a hobby or or a a luxury and not really that important. But all all of the skills that come along with it, all of the mental and physical health benefits, and really just a sense of community, a sense of belonging for any any kid on the team. It's it's a really powerful thing, and it's something with with everything going on, it's something consistent and something powerful, for youth. Youth based sports development is something that's a really strong positive factor in a lot of our our young kids' lives.
Carol Ventresca [:And and the fun part of this is, to our audience, you may only have 1 baseball bat and 1 basketball. But when all of this comes together, you're able to package it so that a whole team is taken care of or an individual who needs a complete set of of equipment so they can play tennis or or what or golf or whatever it may be. But, so don't think that donating one baseball bat is not important. You you mentioned that nationally, $14,000,000 in equipment has been donated. Well, there's a whole lot of steps that come between getting a donation and giving out a donation. So tell me about your role and those who are doing the kinds of things you're doing in the other Forward locations and and how you make it all, you know, come together.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So so each of our warehouses has a a program director. Our our other more established warehouses have a a program associate, but it's a pretty, small team at all the warehouses. But really, it's just, reaching out, connecting with all of the groups that have resources and and all of the groups that need resources. So reaching out to the professional sports teams in our market, like the the Columbus Blue Jackets have been great partners. The Cleveland Browns, the the Columbus crew have all, have all supported us in various ways, whether that's in kind equipment donations or grants and financial contributions. And then any, there's, like, 4000 universities in Ohio. I think I'm exaggerating a bit, but not not quite.
Eric Rutkowski [:Not so much.
Carol Ventresca [:It's probably pretty close.
Eric Rutkowski [:It may
Brett Johnson [:be off by 10 or 20. Right.
Eric Rutkowski [:Right. But but connecting with with the ADs and the the sports directors at all of these universities getting all of their if they switch from Nike to Adidas trying to to grab that old gear or
Carol Ventresca [:Good point.
Brett Johnson [:I never thought about the branding. Right. Right. Oh my gosh.
Carol Ventresca [:I mean, like, you know, my school went from being a college to a university. They may have some old college stuff sitting around at Otterbein.
Eric Rutkowski [:So Yeah. Well, so so so Skip Skip and Chris over at Otterbein have already hooked us up a couple
Brett Johnson [:of times.
Eric Rutkowski [:Some some great connections with the the fine folks at Otterbein. They've been been big supporters in in a lot of different ways.
Carol Ventresca [:And you hear that Denison grad saying
Eric Rutkowski [:that too.
Brett Johnson [:I know. I know.
Carol Ventresca [:Yes. I think Brett and I have a have a great rivalry going because I bring in Otterbein and Ohio State, and Way only have one Miami contact.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. That's pretty much it. So, you know, I'm I'm the black sheep, apparently. No. No. No. Of Miami.
Carol Ventresca [:Of Miami. No. We you know what? We need to start getting the Cincinnati folks up here.
Brett Johnson [:Oh, we could maybe. Yeah.
Eric Rutkowski [:We'll see. Yeah.
Brett Johnson [:We'll see.
Carol Ventresca [:It would work. And, oh, you know, too, for for Brett and and our audience, after you and I initially talked about doing this podcast, I emailed folks. I have some friends who are elementary school, principals and some and, my high school, my alma mater, and just said, hey. You know, would you please send this to the appropriate person in athletics and just tell them, here's a place to put this stuff.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So, yeah, those those groups are all super, super important. And but re really, the way we get most of our equipment is really grassroots efforts. Running an LPF collection drive is probably where most of our equipment and the Brett equipment comes from. So it's a really great opportunity for, a service learning project, a, scouts project, a mitzvah project, any sort of these service projects that young people can do. They can set up a bin. We can help send a bunch of resources to support them, but they can set up in their community, reach out to their neighbors, their classmates, their family, their friends, and collect all that stuff that's sitting in people's basements and garages and all of that, and, bring it into LPF, a lot of volunteer opportunities. Like I said, it's very small teams that work in these warehouses, so volunteer support is essential to what we do, and a lot of that comes from this these grassroots community efforts from from students and from from corporate groups, that volunteer to to run a collection drive.
Carol Ventresca [:Well and we should probably do a shout out for our friends at Bessa.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yes.
Carol Ventresca [:You they were working with you this the week this week that we are actually taping this podcast. And, Bess has been with us on this podcast. So thanks to Matthew and and his team and and hopefully that all goes well.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yes. Yeah. They're they're incredible over there. The the way they rally community volunteers, is something really special and just a really, a highlight of the the Columbus community. It's a very giving community, and groups support each other. So it's it's cool to have groups like that.
Carol Ventresca [:So So I'm gonna ask a rival another rivalry question. So have you've you've only been open how long now?
Eric Rutkowski [:Technically, we just passed a year. I've
Carol Ventresca [:So it it may be too soon to ask this question, but I'm guessing that the Columbus community has been record breakers in supporting this effort compared to those folks on the East Coast. What do you think?
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. I wouldn't doubt it. Or let's say the potential is there. If not, well, Looking else. So yeah.
Eric Rutkowski [:The the potential is is definitely there.
Brett Johnson [:It's just getting the word out and Yeah. The exposure.
Eric Rutkowski [:There's there are some some my my counterparts running those East Coast warehouses are some some pretty remarkable people. So, I I know Philadelphia, Baltimore, both collected and distributed over a $1,000,000 of sports gear just in 1 year last year.
Carol Ventresca [:How but
Eric Rutkowski [:but you tell
Carol Ventresca [:you tell Max, when we hit our million in a lot feet less time
Eric Rutkowski [:That's the plan.
Carol Ventresca [:We want him to come to Columbus and come and podcast with us.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. But I've I've I've felt it the just I feel like each week there's more and more momentum with this thing. The more people that hear about us, the the more podcasts I hop on to, the more There you go. The I people are finding out about it. And that's that's the thing too. It's it's something that people want to support. It's something that people care about. And it it's just giving an opportunity to do that.
Eric Rutkowski [:Great.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. So the process of receiving donations of the sports equipment and then redistributing the items to local organizations Sounds like that it's got a lot of moving parts and it so we did talk about the drives in regards to how, items can be donated, but, can you give us an overview of what sports equipment you are looking for, if it's outside of a drive, how it can be donated? And then, how do you prep it for distribution?
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So Our outside of the the the collection drives, we have big metal donation collection bins that we, set up. They're kind of like the the yellow clothing collection bins. Way try to keep them looking shiny and nice and
Carol Ventresca [:Tell tell us where those are so that people will know.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So we have currently well, our very first one, went up at a place called Locker Soccer Academy in Powell. So shout out to to Steve Locker bringing us on. I think that was maybe day 2 of me on the job. I was going to visit Steve, and we were setting up that bin at Locker Soccer Academy. And then just in the past couple months, we were able to put up 4 co branded Dick's Sporting Goods bins, through the Sports Matter Foundation with Dick's Sporting Goods. So the, Easton, Dublin, Polaris, and Grove City Dick's Sporting Goods all have metal collection bins outside. You can drive up, throw in a a bat or a helmet or whatever you have.
Eric Rutkowski [:If you really
Brett Johnson [:great
Eric Rutkowski [:really great ways at any time of the day to drive by and and throw in some gear. I'm also at the warehouse most days, so you can also drop off directly at the warehouse. I'm happy to give anybody a tour around to kinda see what we're doing. It it kind of really really paints the picture when you're able to see the warehouse and walk through of, oh, this is what's going on here.
Carol Ventresca [:And where's the Looking located? The warehouse?
Eric Rutkowski [:It's in, Northland, so North Columbus. We're right by the the indoor skating rink. I it was I forget what it's called nowadays. But the I think Skate Zone.
Carol Ventresca [:Is that the old chiller?
Eric Rutkowski [:It was Wow Family Fun Center back in back in my Way. But, what what
Carol Ventresca [:Way streets are we talking about?
Eric Rutkowski [:Off Morris Road.
Carol Ventresca [:Okay.
Eric Rutkowski [:Off Morris Road, just north of Columbus.
Carol Ventresca [:And audience, we're gonna have our resource list again on our website. So we'll have all the information and and Eric's contact information too. If you'd like to, stop in and drop stuff off or get a a tour.
Eric Rutkowski [:Absolutely. Yeah. And and we are expecting to expand that bin network quite a bit in the next, month or so here. We have 5, Columbus Blue Jackets bins coming online through a partnership with the CBJ Foundation that'll go outside of some of the chiller locations and the YMCA in Powell. And then we have 3 Major League Soccer Players Association Bins Looking online with some partners like, Ohio Premier Soccer, Final Third Foundation, and Resolute Athletic Club.
Carol Ventresca [:So so we wanna put a challenge out to any other big, major or minor sports teams in town to, you want yours. You want Ben with Our name on
Eric Rutkowski [:it too. So the the process for for teams and schools org. It's in the top right corner. You just hit apply for equipment, and then, any of those those programs with the youth youth sports component. It it can be competitive sports, or it can just be free player sports sampling. It doesn't have to be a a travel league. It can just be something that gives kids the opportunity to participate in sports. They can apply on our website, and then I will either give them a a site call or a site visit, just to start building that relationship with them, see what they they really need, and then I'll invite them out to the warehouse.
Eric Rutkowski [:So the the other cool thing is, these, teachers, program directors, coaches, they can come into the warehouse and self select exactly what's gonna work best for their program. So they can they can grab a cart, grab a clipboard, and essentially go shopping free of charge for whatever they need to support their program. That grant application also, once we approve that, that grant application is is good for life. So we wanna be a sustainable support for these programs. So if if next season, if they have have more needs or or more kids, they can come back. If they see something that that we have and go, oh, maybe we wanna start a tennis program. Maybe we wanna try lacrosse. They can they can find the coach or or figure out how they wanna schedule that and come in and get that gear to start up their program.
Eric Rutkowski [:So we really wanna be a a great sustainable partner for for these programs that come through.
Carol Ventresca [:So everybody who's doing a garage sale this, summer, fall, and and, you know, before the winter comes, and you've got sports equipment and nobody wants it, we we know where it can go.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. Absolutely.
Carol Ventresca [:Level leveling the playing field, we'll take it. So, if I wanted to have a drive, what would you suggest I do? So, I live near Westerville and I don't have any sports equipment myself, but I just wanna have, you know, have an opportunity to let people do I, like, put it on my front yard? Way would you suggest that somebody does that to to make it happen?
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So so really, I we we've seen it everywhere. Kids kids will set it up at at their their school gyms, or families will set it up on their their garage or their porch and let people know when's a good time to stop by. Or you can I've seen groups, contact a a local bar or a, an another facility that, Way, I would like to run this drive. Do you guys wanna to to help host the box? And then I have all sorts of, like, bin labels and and flyers and and sample stuff that I can I can send out to people to help make it easy? And really, the the success of it depends on just how much you you put the word out. You you post on your your Facebook or your it's friends or families or neighbors. And really, yeah, it can it can be it can be done Way or collections can be done just about anywhere. You can also just kind of rally since we do have those those permanent collection bins or the warehouse.
Eric Rutkowski [:You can just kind of put the word out like, doctor Carol, how I found out about this podcast was was you had put the word Our, and someone showed up at the warehouse with a Right. Right. With a truck full of gear to donate. So, yeah. Just just putting out putting out the word in any way helps. But if you have the capacity to kind of run a drive, yeah, you can be pretty creative with how you do that.
Carol Ventresca [:Wonderful. Thank you.
Brett Johnson [:What types of sports do you look for? Does it run the gamut, in regards to it has a ball, it has cleats? Could you or or and maybe even give examples of, like, well, you never thought about this, but we could take this.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So so all the the classic stuff you would imagine. Sure. But we we've gotten some some niche stuff. We've gotten and and a a lot of stuff can be taken by those those PE teachers that are able to kind of or after school programs that are able to introduce different sports to kids. So I've gotten, sets of bowling bowling pins and bowling balls that, teachers have been able to introduce Looking in in gym class. I've gotten fencing gear, Yeah. Yeah.
Eric Rutkowski [:Boxing gloves and boxing bags.
Brett Johnson [:And the Way bag Yeah. Too?
Eric Rutkowski [:Yep. So it it's something you can teach kids the sport or Yeah. You're running an after school program and you need a kid to direct his energy more in a more positive way, maybe give him some some protective gloves and let him hit a punching bag and
Brett Johnson [:Get the crap out of the bag.
Eric Rutkowski [:Maybe a peer. And you made
Carol Ventresca [:me think about skates. A kid could learn to skate or they could learn to do hockey or Yeah. Okay. Lots lots can come.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Okay. Okay. Yeah.
Carol Ventresca [:So, Eric, there's lots of work and tasks in on on your head to complete. And you had mentioned you're looking for volunteers, and Bessa has come out and and is helping. But tell us about not just the the critical role that volunteers play, but what are you looking for in a volunteer? How and and then how does somebody become a volunteer?
Eric Rutkowski [:I we've we've had volunteers of of of all ages from 9 to much older than 9. And and we have tasks for for for everyone, whether it's helping make labels and clean up the warehouse, or primarily just sorting and inventorying all of this incoming equipment that we get. I I finally got a little support in my my summer intern, Sid. Shout out to Sid. And that that's helped to double our capacity. But really, as we collect more and more equipment, we we rely on on volunteer support to help us sort in inventory all that gear that's that's coming into the warehouse. So there there are sign ups to just kinda drop in on our website. If you want to volunteer as a if if if you're a team or your kid's on a team and they might need service learning hours or wanna volunteer as a group activity, if you're a corporate group looking to do a, kind of a employee giveback event or just a team building event.
Eric Rutkowski [:There's opportunities for for groups of all sizes, whether that's 1 or 2 people for for an hour or a group of 25 people for a couple hours coming in to help get the warehouse together, sort all that gear for the programs that we're then gonna serve.
Brett Johnson [:Wonderful. Okay. Are there any plans for new programs or further expansion of leveling the playing field here, if that in Ohio, maybe nationally? So
Eric Rutkowski [:yeah. So in regards to Ohio specifically, leveling the playing field if if you look at our 5 warehouses, you'll notice that we are very intentionally leveling the playing field Ohio and not leveling the playing field Columbus, whereas our our other warehouses have a a city involved in their their moniker. We are we're trying to we're we're obviously starting right here in our backyard in Columbus, but we're really trying to to support, Cleveland and Cincinnati and Toledo and and Dayton and everything in between here in Ohio. So like you mentioned earlier, this is the first Midwest warehouse. We're really kind of far away from some of our other warehouses, and we're really trying to be a support for Ohio communities. So just in regards to LPF Ohio, we've been making strides in in Cincinnati and Cleveland connecting we've been making strides in in Cincinnati and Cleveland, connecting to supporters like like the Cleveland Browns or, distributing to groups like the the Boys and Girls Club up in Massillon or, groups down in Cincinnati. So, I'm working to to try to to to connect all of that. And, the the only questions I've gotten from summit groups is if if you're you are a group in Cleveland, and you're donating equipment, you want it to support groups in Cleveland.
Eric Rutkowski [:That's that's the the question I get asked the most. And, I guess my answer to that is we have a we have a general inventory here in Columbus, and I'm I'm working hard to ensure that Cleveland programs, Cincinnati programs, where wherever the need is, those programs know about us here in Columbus. And beyond that, it's it's fair game to any of those programs to to come down to Columbus and and grab gear. So if a while your specific bat from Cleveland might not end up in Cleveland, A load of stuff from the RPAC in Columbus might be getting sent up there to Massillon. So, really, it's it's all working to support Ohio youth sports in general.
Carol Ventresca [:It's so we've talked about how people can support leveling the playing field as a volunteer. Needless to Way, there are a whole lot of ways that you could probably, use support. What is your wish list? What would you like our audience to try to help besides giving you equipment, besides being a volunteer? I'm guessing donations would really help.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. So Johnson unrestricted funds are are huge to help us accomplish our goals here in Columbus. We're in a shared space right now, in a space called Elevate Northland, with some other nonprofits. And, that's a a tremendous space, but ultimately, we would like to, be able to to get our own independent warehouse so we can fully operate how we would would like to and and, reach the full capacity that we think we're very well capable of here in Columbus. It also
Carol Ventresca [:So if anybody's got a building they wanna give Way?
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. There you go. That works.
Carol Ventresca [:Let's see if we can pull that off.
Eric Rutkowski [:We we also we want to ensure that all of this gear that comes in, we're able to give out to these programs and keep all of our donations completely free. So the the rent of our warehouse or the cost of our shelving or increasing our staffing, getting a van so I can stop shoving stuff in my Honda CR V, which is getting smaller and smaller by the day, it seems. All all of 5, $10 here or there from from different community members vastly contributes to Looking this program continue to grow here in Columbus. The the the buy in from from the the community as far as donations and as far as partnerships is is definitely there. And I'm always as anybody in nonprofit knows, I'm I'm always trying to see where where more funds can come to support the work that we're doing.
Carol Ventresca [:Right. Great.
Brett Johnson [:Yeah. Well, we always ask our guests if they have any last words of wisdom that they'd like to add. Do you have any other suggestions or advice to our listeners today? I think we covered a lot of ground, but it's it's that, you know, opportunity to kinda go remember this.
Eric Rutkowski [:Yeah. I I I think that there I I I feel really passionately about what leveling the playing field is doing here in Columbus. It it speaks to me, and I've found something that I I'm really excited to do the fun parts and all the hard work that comes with this. We've mentioned a lot of partner nonprofits, other nonprofits in the Columbus community that are doing great work, and and there's a way to to volunteer to give your time, resources, money, etcetera to any of these programs in Columbus. I know it everyone is busy and it seems like we don't have time. But volunteering for any of these organizations that speak to you and what you're passionate about, I I don't think it'll ever feel like a waste of time. I find it very replenishing, refreshing to give your time in that way. And I think just look Looking around.
Eric Rutkowski [:Look at who the Columbus Foundation is supporting. Look at the human services chamber in Columbus. Find one of these nonprofits that's doing something that speaks to what you're passionate about and where you want to see the Columbus community going and give an hour or 2, give $5, see what it's all about.
Carol Ventresca [:Eric, thank you so much for coming and joining us today. This has been fun. It's you know, sometimes Way get our our topics are a little heavy and difficult, but this one has been fun and we've really appreciated it. And audience, you know, where school's gonna be starting and we want to make sure that these kids have some stuff that they need to to participate in local sports. So thank you again to Eric Rutkowski, who is the program director for Leveling The Playing Field, for joining us today And listeners, thank you for joining us. Don't forget, you'll find the contact information and resources that we've discussed today on our podcast show notes on our website, Looking Forward Our Way. And we're looking forward to hearing your feedback on this or any of our podcast episodes.
