GOFFSTOWN — If you're walking through Main Street and see a flurry of Chicago White Sox jerseys in what should be part of Red Sox Nation — don't be surprised.

Departed Red Sox Kevin Youkilis, now a member of the White Sox, through his foundation “Youk's Kids” jump-started the resurgence of the town's Babe Ruth League with a $20,000 donation to replace the equipment that was lost Saturday after a lightning strike set the league's storage building on fire.

“As a child, baseball was a large part of my life. Organizations like Goffstown Babe Ruth are an integral part of the town. They offer so many opportunities for kids to learn the skills of both baseball and teamwork, something that will stay with them throughout their lives,” said Youkilis, founder of Youk's Kids in a news release. “I'm thrilled that Youk's Kids has the ability to help out the Goffstown Babe Ruth League after the fire.”

“After the sadness of the fire on Saturday, the last thing I expected Monday morning was a phone call about 8:30 a.m. From the Youkilis Foundation saying they wanted to help pay for all of the equipment,” said Kevin Baines, Goffstown Babe Ruth League president. “It's unreal.

“More importantly, it will allow us to outfit these kids correctly and safely with quality equipment and not bargain basement stuff,” Baines said. “We're extremely excited for the kids and baseball in this town again.”

The process started when the Goffstown Fire Department got a call from Youk's Kids Foundation trying to reach Baines, having learned from media coverage about the league's misfortune. The fire department dispatcher texted Baines, who allowed his contact information to be given out. Shortly thereafter, Tina Cantua, co-vice president of Youk's Kids, called with the good news.

“This fit our mission of kids in need,” said Cantu in a telephone interview Monday night. “We contacted our 12 board members and we were all unanimous in doing it. When we ran it by Kevin, he was unanimous, too. Youk said 'go for it,'” Cantu said.

“This is about baseball and he being a baseball player and wanting everyone to know that his heart is still in the area even though he's not physically in the Boston area,” added Cantu.

Offers of goods, donations and leagues as well as umpire associations continue to swamp Baines' e-mail in box offering to support us with labor and/or money. It's all been quite humbling, to be honest.”

Baines received more good news Monday afternoon after meeting with the Allard family, who privately own the field where the old storage facility stood.

“It's private land and they gave us the go-ahead to proceed to build a new building on the land,” Baines said. “They're going to secure the site, demolish the old building and make it safe for people to be down there. Initially, we're going to have to get the irrigation system up and running to keep the field green and not lose it after the summer.

“Wednesday night we'll have a Babe Ruth Board of Directors meeting and try to set a course on going ahead and getting things back in order. There's a lot to do, but the response from the community has been amazing.”

And there's one more thing Baines has to buy before the week runs out.

“I'm going to buy myself a Youk shirt,” Baines said. “I'm a Chicago White So fan now. It was amazing to get that phone call today. It's all been unreal.”

gmiles@unionleader.com