CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- A Little League organization in Joliet said it’s getting offers of help as it recovers from a theft of thousands of dollars of equipment.
Opening Day is Saturday for the Belmont Little League on Joliet’s East Side. Almost two weeks ago, league president Rick Brown said, thieves broke into the group’s storage shed and took all sorts of field maintenance equipment and a couple of dozen new aluminum bats.
"I would say, at least $4-5,000 in baseball equipment alone," he said.
Brown said three rolls of fencing were also taken. It had been donated last fall to be used for sectioning off the t-ball field. It was going to be installed as the ground warmed up.
The league president said Little Leagues from Naperville, Hinsdale, Oak Brook and Clarendon Hills have all chipped in to help the Belmont Little League’s season start on time.
Brown said he was hit hard when he learned of the theft.
"When this kind of came into a light, it was heart-breaking, it really was," he said.
Belmont Little League has more than 200 youngsters from low-income areas of Joliet, but Brown said other Little Leagues are helping out.
"They’ve all stepped up to help us out," he said.
Brown said figures the thieves just wanted to sell items outright or for scrap.