8-22-2025 3:22am

30-Year Program

Donate Baseball/Softball Equipment at Orioles Game, Sunday, August 24

On Sunday, August 24, the Oriole Advocates/Oriole Advocates Charitable Foundation’s Cardboard to Leather program will be accepting donations of new or used (but still usable) baseball and softball equipment before the Orioles take on the Houston Astros at 1:35 p.m. Gates are scheduled to open at noon and collection stations will be available outside all open entry gates into the ballpark. The Cardboard to Leather program provides baseball and softball equipment to underprivileged youth in developing countries. Oriole Advocates Accepting Equipment Donations and Conducting Silent Auction, August 24 at Oriole Park at Camden Yards

Inside the ballpark, the Oriole Advocates/Oriole Advocates Charitable Foundation will conduct a silent auction of sports memorabilia on the lower concourse between Gates D and E. Fans will have a chance to bid on baseballs, photos, bats, and jerseys autographed by current and former Orioles players.

Monetary donations will also be accepted. Cash is welcome and electronic donations can be made directly via the internet. Checks payable to “OACF” can be mailed to:

OACF

P.O. Box 2295

Baltimore, MD 21203-2295

Monetary donations help defray the costs of warehousing, packing, and shipping the donated equipment.

For larger equipment donations, pick-ups can be arranged. Please reach out via e-mail to oadvocates@orioladvocates.org or C2L@orioleadvocates.org

About Cardboard to Leather: the program was inspired by a 1992 John Eisenberg article in “The Baltimore Sun” about kids in the Dominican Republic using tree limbs for bats and making gloves out of cardboard boxes and duct tape, as told by Orioles scout Carlos Barnhart. Besides the Dominican Republic, the OA/OACF have distributed equipment and clothing to baseball players in places like Afghanistan, Aruba, Belize, Cuba, Mexico, Nicaragua, Serbia, and Venezuela as well as throughout the United States. The program ships over 500 boxes of equipment each year, reaching more than 17,000 children in a dozen countries.

Cardboard to Leather program volunteers have collected, packed, and shipped over 100 tons of baseball organizations run by civic organizations, schools, orphanages, community groups, and hospitals. The distributed equipment is owned by the receiving organization and distributed to individual players with the intent for it to be re-used

Cardboard to Leather is a registered trademark of the Oriole Advocates, Inc., an organization dedicated to promoting and stimulating an interest in baseball/softball in the Baltimore Metropolitan Area and around the world. For more information on the Oriole Advocates’ community involvement, please visit their website: https://orioleadvocates.org