the soccer outreach is different from the tournament. kyle from nc coaches his daughter's soccer team and had a wonderful idea. when he heard we were doing a tournament in africa he decided to begin to collect soccer cleats and soccer balls from his team to donate, but once he began he did not stop there. he then went to his soccer association and asked them to go to their teams and gather cleats and balls. when all was said and done he had soccer balls, cleats, shin guards, and goalie gloves. he and his daughter rounded up her beanie baby and stuffed animal collection and boxed them and the soccer equipment up to send to benin. see kyle works at a wonderful company named tandemloc and tandemloc really got behind our trip to benin in an amazing kind of way. they sent the boxes there for us, in addition, their employes donated all kinds of items for the village outreach, the orphanage, and the ladies. we are so thankful for their giving spirits and hearts.
most of the kids in tourou do not have shoes, so soccer cleats is out of the question for them. we lined the boys up and had a lottery for the equipment. when they were lined up they had no idea what they were getting or doing, but as soon as we dumped the cleats on the ground cheers and claps erupted. they were so excited. after they received their shoes we divided them up into groups and handed out the soccer balls, it was so much fun to see the kids play games within their groups. it was a huge success.
next, we lined up the girls for the stuffed animals. this was great because the girls there never get any gifts, so they were excited. mary and i handed out the gifts and then as we took their pictures with the animals they started jumping up and down and yelling, it was so overwhelming because they were so thankful and excited. after their celebration they took their new "babies" and tied them on their backs like the women do when they carry their babies, it was so cute. for the rest of our time their you would see different girls around the village with their new "babies." thanks kyle and tandemloc!
That is so amazing to see. We couldn't be more happy to have been part of the outreach. To be able to do something that is seemingly so small to us that makes such a big difference to others has been wonderful. We hope to do more of the same and take up a collection each year. Every season our kids grow out of their cleats and other gear so this is a great way to pass them on. Most of the gear came from our team and some extras that were left at our association’s office by other teams to share. Next time we plan to actively solicit the rest of the teams in our association. Thank you for the work you're doing and giving us a positive and direct way to give.
ReplyDeleteKyle, Jen, Keely and the whole New Bern area Soccer Association.