>> ... Next Generation ... Pitch Perfect Charity softball game raises $66,000. z Three hundred players and 800 spectators came out Aug. Michelle Friedman and Kyle Zwiren give each other a 26 for Pitch for Detroit. high five after a big play. E Stuart Solomon and his fiancee, Jody Satovsky, enjoy the day. Brian Shulman and Lauren Reich relax. Adam Blanck and Gabe Neistein take a break from the action to pose for a photo. n Sunday, Aug. 26, batters were swinging for the fences at Inglenook Park in Detroit. Now in its third year, the charity softball game Pitch For Detroit had 18 teams of 300 people to play softball and more than 800 community members come together for a fun day of charity and sport. Collectively, more than $66,000 has been raised so far for the Do It For Detroit Fund. Congratulations go out to the Pitch For Detroit champion teams: Detroit Harmonie, a men's team captained by ComeplayDetroit's Justin Jacobs, and Sun Communities, a co-ed team captained by Amy Brody, now a two-time co-ed division champion. "I look forward to Pitch all summer. There's a great sense of camaraderie, not just among players, but throughout the whole community," Brody said. "CommunityNEXT has done an incredible job taking co-founders Adam Blanck and Benji Gordon's vision and making it even more inclusive. This year kids and adults of all ages were able to participate. Every year the event gets stronger and stronger." Brody will be chair of next year's event. "The goal is to activate our community with the 92 September 13 •2012 city of Detroit through a Jewish lens," said Rachel Lachover, associate director of CommunityNEXT, a division of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit. "We are very excited that NEXTGen Detroit and Repair The World will be able to come together this upcoming year and launch this new fund. "We are very excited for what's in store, as Pitch For Detroit transitions its proceeds into the Do It For Detroit Fund (DI4D)," she added. "DI4D is a micro- grant program created to allocate funds to projects and individuals that will create positive change and cultivate service opportunities in the city of Detroit for members of the Jewish and non-Jewish communities alike." This is how the proceeds from the Do It For Detroit Fund will make an impact: • Provide micro-grants, ranging from $500-$3,000, for ideas and initiatives designed to create positive social change in the city of Detroit. • Empower the next-gen population and Detroit ex- pats nationwide to find relevant and meaningful ways to transform the city. • Activate next-gen peers to apply for grants and/or learn about emerging and new projects. • Partner with Repair the World (RTW), an authority for volunteering and service in and by the American Jewish community. Headquartered in New York City, RTW now has a fellow in Detroit connecting individuals with meaningful service opportunities, and enabling individuals and organizations to run effective programs rooted in Jewish values. "We will also be hosting five events in Detroit ov , r the coming months," Lachover said. "Each will fa,— on a different theme, such as education, health/ wellness, hunger, arts and the environment." ❑ Want to find out more about Dl4D? Look for more info at doitfordetroit.com or Facebook/ Twitter (CommunityNEXT) or contact Josh Kanter at joshk@communitynxt.com . Questions about how to get involved with CommunityNEXT? Email Rachel Lachover at Rachel@communityNXT.com .