Gara Creates His Own Double Play

Theo Gara isn’t old enough to get his driver’s license.

But don’t let that fool you.

He may be just a sophomore at Burroughs High, but he already thinks like a mature adult and understands the concept of giving back to others.

Gara, 15, who is on the junior varsity baseball team, has collected various baseball items that he no longer has a need for and plans to donate them to a group or groups in parts of the world wear others are less fortunate.

He has started a charity called Double Play John Burroughs, and has donated some of his own items and collected from teammates.

“I have stuff from when I was younger so we have stuff to give to the littler kids. Right now we have 12 gloves, 10 bats, about 30 baseball pants, 25 jerseys, 20 hats, we have a few bags, catchers gear and we have cleats,” Gara said. “We’re trying to get more. We’re going to either make a trip down to Mexico or we’ll ship it somewhere over the summer.

Gara said he got the idea from a youth coach who had said he has sent some old sports gear to the Philippines.

“He said they were so excited to see it,” Gara said. We looked around the garage and we saw we had tons of gear from over the years and we can’t keep so we decided to make it into a charity and get some from others so we can help people that need our gear.”

Gara said the Burroughs baseball program has also lent a hand.

“The program has donated a bunch of old jerseys, pants and hats, which is great because clothes are hard to come by there too,” Gara said. “If we can go and actually meet the kids that would be amazing. If not we are going to ship it to any place in need.”

Gara said he also wants to make sure that what he is giving away will be useful.

“Most of our stuff is in good condition. We’re not going to give them ripped gloves or broken helmets,” he said.

Mexico or the Dominican Republic remain the top options to bring all of the gear to.

Since Gara has two more left in high school, he said he hopes to continue in subsequent years.

“It would be nice to do it again next year and have part two of it,” Gara said.

Burroughs varsity coach Matt Magallon said he is glad to see a player in his program performing a good deed.

“I think what Theo is doing is a special thing. To have the understanding that there are people in need in other parts of the world. To invest the time to help others, that’s humility at its finest,” Magallon said. “He’s a great kid who works extremely hard and it is extremely fitting that it is him.”

For anyone interested in donating to Gara’s collection he can be contacted at jbhsdoubleplay@gmail.com.