A young boy in Iowa saw the devastation a late summer storm wreaked upon his home state, and soon came up with a real home run of a plan to help.
12 year old Tommy Rhomberg has raised thousands of dollars for his community by making and selling nearly 115 baseball bats out of wood brought down by the August storm, according to his website, The Great Derecho.
The idea for the bats initially began as Tommy’s way of giving a friend a nice gift for his birthday – but when others expressed interest in owning Great Derecho bats of their own, he came up with a new plan.
He wrote on his website — “I didn’t know people would be so interested. But since so many people in our area need help after the storm, let’s work together to make a difference for them.”
The first bat took Tommy 10 hours to whittle and sand out of a tree branch that had fallen in his yard during the derecho, which is a group of intense thunderstorms and windstorms.
But once he began receiving more orders, he streamlined the process with a lathe and help from his grandfather, promising $20 from each purchase would go to The Greater Cedar Rapids Foundation Disaster Relief Fund.
According to CBS News, Tommy’s efforts have raised more than $2,500 to help out his community, and orders have come in from as far as Arizona and Connecticut.
Tommy is not taking additional orders at the moment, but it’s “possible” he’ll make more bats in the future, according to his website.