(Voice of San Diego).- Did you know that at Petco Park, around 10% of the take at many food and drink stands is donated to charity?
Voice of San Diego’s Will Huntsberry discovered that a charity with no legal existence operates more stands in the park than any other charity.
Chula Vista Fast Pitch was a non-profit organization that assisted many kids interested in getting started in fastpitch, a variation of softball. Regrettably, the organization closed its doors in 2014. As a result, they no longer have an active permit or website, and their former owners were unaware that another group with the same name operates stadium concessions.
For nine years, Chula Vista Fast Pitch has been part of Petco Park’s concession stands, and for nine years, they have been taking profits in return.
According to Delaware North, the company in charge of management concessions at Petco Park, Chula Vista Fastpitch has run around 12 food and drink stands per night at the stadium.
From January 1 to June 5, Chula Vista Fast Pitch recorded $3.7 million in net sales. Delaware North was asked about their process for verifying the authenticity of non-profits before donating funds. However, they chose not to disclose their method and only stated that they would take the matter into consideration.
If Chula Vista Fast Pitch is not a non-profit organization, who is operating the stands at Petco Park under that name? Noly Ilarde and Martin Rebollo were repeatedly mentioned.
Huntsberry had the opportunity to talk to both of them, and they both admitted that they helped out and were involved with Chula Vista Fast Pitch. Regardless, when asked who was in charge, they both answered very vaguely and passed the ball to each other; none admitted who was the main person.
The reporter gave his contact information to Ilarde and Rebollo for clarification, but they never reached out.
Jackson Wyatt, the founder of Chula Vista Fast Pitch, confirmed that Rebollo had a loose connection to the original league. Wyatt mentioned that Rebollo’s brother was a coach for one of the teams.
“I would hate for the legacy to be this because it was a cool league and helped a lot of kids get started,” he said. “That someone would turn around and use it for illicit purposes … you know, nothing surprises me anymore.”