14U Bruins Baseball team hides Easter eggs for fundraiser

Players+on+the+14U+Bellevue+Bruins+baseball+team+fill+Easter+eggs+for+their+Egg+Your+House+fundraiser.

Photo courtesy of Brandi Lashley

Players on the 14U Bellevue Bruins baseball team fill Easter eggs for their “Egg Your House” fundraiser.

LeAnne Bugay, Features Editor

On the night of Saturday, March 31, a team of 14-year-olds invaded the lawns of some Bellevue residents in the middle of the night.

To hide Easter eggs, that is.

The 14U Bellevue Bruins baseball team filled and hid Easter eggs at 18 Bellevue homes last night to raise money for their season. With fees such as uniforms, umpires, and gear, the team turned to the “Egg Your House” fundraiser for assistance. Since all of the supplies was donated, the boys and coaches will have extra money to chip away at the cost of playing select baseball.

“We really had no idea what kind of response we would get,” team mom and fundraiser organizer Brandi Lashley said. “We don’t have a goal for money. This is one hundred percent profit because my mother-in-law actually works for Oriental Trading, and she was able to get all of our stuff donated for the fundraiser.”

The players’ families donated bags of nut-free candy, while Lashley’s mother-in-law Diana Keller provided the plastic eggs and small trinkets. Lashley contacted Keller about supplies after getting the idea to “egg houses”.

“I got the idea from a friend of mine who works with a humane society in Texas and they were doing the fundraiser,” Lashley said. “Because they’re in Texas and we wouldn’t be competing with them, I went ahead and used their idea.”

Once the team of 11 boys found out they would get to “egg houses”, they began talking about it non-stop and jokingly showing off.

“The spin on ‘Egg Your House’ catches someone’s attention,” Lashley said. “To 14-year-old boys that’s kind of a cool thing to say.”

Even though the boys were sure to be spreading the word about the fundraiser, Lashley turned to Facebook to advertise. She posted a flyer to her personal profile and to the Facebook group “Bellevue 411” to reach Bellevue parents with little kids. A public Facebook event was also made.

“Bellevue 411 is actually an amazing resource for marketing,” Lashley said. “Also each of our families took flyers to give to people that they knew with small children.”

Parents could contact Lashley through Facebook or by phone and either mail their order forms or drop them off in person. The team advertised 24 eggs for $15, 48 eggs for $25, and 96 eggs for $50 as well as their plan to hide the eggs.

Lashley said that the boys would get together on March 30 to fill the eggs and plan their route with the help of the coaches that would be driving. The boys dressed in their jerseys and caps and divided into three groups the next night to hide eggs at houses that were close in proximity.

“If neighbors see teenage boys out at their neighbors’ house they’re going to call the police,” Lashley said.

Parents that ordered eggs were asked to let their neighbors know. The team also contacted the Bellevue Police Department to let them know of their plan to hide eggs in the middle of the night so that there would be no trouble with police being suspicious.

In the morning, several kids woke up to a yard of Easter eggs.

“Kids had a blast! Thanks, definitely will be doing again next year!” customer Rebecca Wendeln Castro posted to the Facebook event “Bellevue Bruins 14 u Egg Your House”.