A unique event will attempt to raise funds for three Franklin-area charities this fall.
Throughout the past several years, Franklin has been nothing if not softball-obsessed, consistently fielding some of WNC’s best little league, middle and high school teams. In a 72-hour Charity Marathon Softball Game next month, a local resident hopes to turn the town’s love for the game into a positive force for the community.
“For me, it’s about 20 years in the making. My father, when he was 18 back in 1969, did a charity baseball game that went 60 hours,” said Drew Gretz on the idea’s origin. “He and one of his best friends put together the game, and it’s kind of funny to think about it – they raised $140 for a hemophilia association. We think of $140 as not a lot, but these were teenagers in a suburb of Chicago. Since then, when I was in the Navy, I got the idea of replicating it and doing something similar as an honor to my father, and because I think it’s a really cool idea to do.”
Upon moving to Franklin from Naples, Florida, four years ago, Gretz was struck by Macon County’s love for softball and charitable spirit, making it the perfect place to enact his long-held plan. On the weekend of Sept. 26-29, Gretz hopes to draw a crowd to the Parker Meadows Complex for an even more ambitious event.
“It’s gonna be 72 hours of straight softball, rotating players in and out,” he said. “I’m looking to recruit at this point a minimum of 60; 80 would be ideal, and these would be players that are committing to play an extended period of time to cover the 72 hours. During the event I’m gonna open it up to walk-ons, so anybody who can’t commit to an extended period of time can come out, donate, join the game and replace one of the committed players for three or four innings, or an hour or two hours.”
In just his first week of recruiting players, Gretz said he’s been encouraged by the early returns, counting nearly two dozen players committing to extended playing time. In donating funds to three major local nonprofits, Gretz hopes to draw as many players as possible.
“I went with three charities/organizations because I figure we could offer a significant donation to each of the three, and I think the three organizations also cover a wide variety of the needs of the community,” he said. “Men’s Challenge [of the Smokies] are helping men with addiciton, the [Smoky Mountain] Pregnancy Care Center is helping and supporting new mothers get through their pregnancies, and Magnilia Mission is helping foster families who take on and raise kids that are not their own. I think all three organizations do amazing work here in the community, so it’s an honor to be able to support them with the event.”
With all donations going to support three very different local nonprofits, Gretz hopes to cast as wide a net as possible to serve the community. In addition to donations from players, he hopes to involve Franklin businesses as well.
“I’m gonna be reaching out to local businesses to see how I can get them involved – I’ve got a few ideas,” said Gretz. “One, if they’re willing to just offer a monetary donation, that’s awesome. If they can help support in different ways – if some of our businesses that offer food want to support by providing some food to the players, that would be awesome. Other businesses, I’m thinking about doing raffles during the event where people can come and donate to put their name in a raffle to win gift cards or certain items, depending on the businesses and what they want to offer.”
Between players from the community, donations from Franklin businesses, and reaching out to local first responders to help man and name the teams, Gretz is attempting to involve as many community members as possible. While still a relatively new resident of Franklin, he said he believes this is the perfect place to put his plan into action.
“Down there it just didn’t seem like it fit the idea of what I’d like to try to do, and then I moved up here and realized that Franklin and Macon County is the right area to make something like this happen,” said Gretz of his former home in Florida. “I know this is the community and the group of people that could pull something like this off, because I’ve quickly found that people are very generous, hospitable and kind around here, and they love to get involved in things like this. It didn’t take me long to figure that out.”
For more information on the Charity Marathon Softball Game, visit the group’s Facebook page of the same name or email charitysoftballmarathon@gmail.com.