Marucci Elite is hosting the Marucci Elite AA Challenge, a USSSA sanctioned tournament, at Zachary Youth Park, 1650 E. Mount Pleasant Rd. (Hwy. 64), the weekend of March 24.

While this is a Marucci event, the Zachary Chamber of Commerce is collecting items from local businesses to fill goodie bags for 8-10 year-old boys.

Items such as pens, pencils, cups, water bottles, restaurant coupons (for the parents) or any other "widget" that may be used to fill the bags are being requested. These bags would be distributed to each child who participates in the tournament.

The Chamber wants to welcome and offer the the boys and their parents a positive experience while visiting the Zachary community.

"We want it known that these are gifts will be from the Zachary community and not from the tournament sponsor or any one specific business," a Chamber spokesperson said. "It is our belief that we should maximize the economic impact of these events for our local economy. If that means the families go to a local restaurant that they previously would not have, get a car wash or simply have a positive experience while visiting our community, then it may entice them to return or mention Zachary positively to someone else."

Often times parents travel with their childrens' teams to various events and may not remember the actual tournament, but they remember the town where the tournament was held and the wonderful experience they had there, the spokesperson said.

The goal is to fill about 300 bags of goodies, but the Chamber is not asking for 300 items from each business, only what each Zachary business is able to provide.

The collection site for the goodies will be at the Bank of Zachary, 4743 Main St.

All items must be dropped off by Friday, March 16.

If a business needs someone to pick up the items, please contact Todd Cranford by e-mailing toddcranford@hotmail.com or Mark Marionneaux at mm@bankofzachary.com.