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03/08/2017 07:30 AMA wistful conversation between two kids, overheard at a hockey game last year, motivated Kameron “Kam” Miles to collect and distribute outgrown sports equipment for kids in need. To date, the 16 year-old has given away 3,000 gently-used items, has another 3,000 pieces ready to go, and wants to do more.
“I got started because I was at one of my sister’s hockey games, and there were two young boys, maybe 9 or 10 years old, sitting behind me in the bleachers, talking,” says Kam. “One of the boys said he wanted to play hockey, but he said his parents couldn’t afford it. That got me thinking there were more kids that couldn’t get the chance for the same reason.”
The Guilford High School (GHS) baseball player wanted to help kids clear that hurdle and try their hand at any type of sport out there. With a little more than that great idea and the conviction he could help, Kam created his “Children’s Athletic Movement” (CAM) drive.
Kam simply asked a handful of Guilford businesses and organizations if he could put a collection box at their site, and CAM made its first community appearance in early 2016. The drive’s first collection boxes, which remain in place, were given floor space at The UPS Store in Village Walk, St. George’s Catholic Church, Guilford High School, and Adams Middle School.
Each time, after Kam would stop by to empty items from the boxes, it would fill up again. By summer 2016, Kam had a huge collection of sports equipment ready to share. Looking around for an optimal recipient, his research turned up Domus. The nonprofit operates schools and after-school programs for more than 1,200 very low-income children from New Haven, Bridgeport, and Stamford. Domus Executive Director Mike Duggan was happy to receive the donation.
“The families we support are choosing between food and medicine—they don’t have the luxury of buying or renting sports gear for their kids,” Duggan says. “Kam and his CAM donors are giving the youth of Domus a chance to play hockey, lacrosse, golf, football, tennis, soccer, baseball, and basketball. These sports teach important lessons like teamwork, courage, and discipline…traits everyone should learn, regardless of income.”
As an added bonus, “the donations Kam collected and delivered allowed us to initiate both a brand-new golf and tennis program for the youth here,” said Duggan.
That’s pretty cool, Kam says.
“When I donated to Domus, they didn’t have a golf or tennis program,” he says. “But now, they do.”
In addition to finding golf and tennis equipment in the mix of donations, Kam has taken in used youth ski and snowboard equipment and even a few pogo sticks among more traditional team sports equipment.
Kam knows there are many families on the shoreline with kids involved in sports, and he thanks everyone who contributes their kids’ outgrown items to CAM.
“I know I had so much stuff I used to have in my garage,” says Kam. “I just outgrew bats that were too short, and gloves that didn’t fit anymore. Instead of going through the hassle of donating them online, this is a pretty easy way to make some kids happy and get them to play some sports.”
While Kam says he wasn’t sure of what to expect when he started the donation program, the thousands of pieces that have been donated to date tell him CAM is striking a chord with donors and filling a need in the greater community. That’s why he’s determined to continue, and has even been expanding CAM’s reach.
“It’s gotten more extensive, like the little kids getting boxes in their [Guilford] schools and now I have one in Clinton, and one at a baseball facility in Fairfield,” says Kam. “I’m trying to place the boxes in such a way that I’m at the place when I’m on my everyday schedule, so I can check in on them.”
Kam trains for baseball year-round and also helps out kids in Guilford Little League as well as assisting with other baseball-based community service programs.
“I’ve always liked to help out younger kids with baseball. Now, I’m able to help kids in other sports,” he says. “I really want to thank everyone who donated.”
Kam also thanks The UPS Store, St. George’s Church, GHS, and Adams Middle School for signing on to help when CAM was brand new, and for staying the course. He’s also grateful for his family’s support. Kam sorts the constantly growing collection in a shed at his house.
“We have a sufficient storage space, but right now I already have another 3,000 more pieces, so I’m looking to get those donated,” says Kam
This time around, Kam hopes to donate to St. Martin de Porres Academy, a faith-based New Haven middle school providing tuition-free, extended day education for children from low-income area families. He’s also looking into helping Amistad Catholic Worker, which assists in New Haven’s Hill Section.
Kam’s plan is to keep the CAM collection running and to keep finding non-profits and other groups in need of donations of sports equipment of all types for kids.
“So far it’s still a one-man operation,” says Kam. “I want to keep the drive going locally and would like to see it spill over into other towns, which it is already starting to do.”
Organizations seeking to receive donations of gently-used children’s sports equipment from CAM can contact Kam Miles at keepallkidsmoving@gmail.com