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ORANGE COUNTY <br />BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS <br />ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT <br />Meeting Date: March 21, 2006 <br />Action Agen~l~ <br />Item No. ~~, <br />SUBJECT: Resolution Honoring Sports Endeavors <br />DEPARTMENT: Economic Development <br />PUBLIC HEARING: (YIN) No <br />ATTACHMENT(S): <br />Resolution <br />INFORMATION CONTACT: <br />Dianne Reid, 245-2326 <br />PURPOSE: To recognize Sports Endeavors for the development and operation of Passback, <br />program which collects used but still playable gear and sends it to teams and organizations <br />unable to afford even the most basic soccer equipment. <br />BACKGROUND: Incorporated in April 1984, Sports Endeavors, Inc, was born from a business <br />project idea that soccer enthusiast Mike Moylan had while he was in high school, Started in the <br />basement of his home in Durham, other members of the family, including younger brother <br />Brendan, tended the business while Mike attended college. <br />In 1991, the company purchased the former White-Hickory Furniture factory on US 70 East in <br />Hillsborough, Over the years, Sports Endeavors has renovated the building in stages, adding <br />new wings to accommodate its growth. Today, it employs 500-525 people during peak seasons <br />(4~'' quarter and August/September), including 220 fulltime staff. <br />The Moylans started the Passback program when a family friend came to their store looking for <br />gear to send to his daughter, a Peace Corps volunteer working with children in Malawi. While <br />looking for equipment to send her, the brothers found closets full of old soccer gear that they no <br />longer used but was too good to throw out, They realized that there must be other players <br />whose garages, closets and basements were also overflowing, <br />From this first donation, the program has grown to its current level: In 2005, Passback shipped <br />62,992 items with a retail value of $470,493 to 174 groups in the United States and throughout <br />the world. <br />FINANCIAL IMPACT: None <br />RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the attached <br />resolution commending Sports Endeavors for creating and operating the Passback program, <br />and authorize the Chair to sign the resolution. <br />