See It: The Community being helped

Last summer I attended a rock concert in New York City by the band Dispatch. It was a beneift concert for Zimbabwe relief. I was inspired to do something that would impact the people of Zimbabwe in some way. I contaced the band following the concert and asked for the names of organizations involved in the relief effort. They put me in touch with US-Africa Children's Fellowship based in Brooklyn, NY. The organization explained to me that many times the children in Zimbabwe do not participate in sports for fear of ripping the one school uniform that they own. Many times in cold weather, they stay home from school because they do not own shoes to protect their feet on their walk to school. I decided to do a collection drive of soccer equipment, uniforms and sneakers for the children of Zimbabwe. US-Africa Children’s Fellowship agreed to help me transport the equipment to Zimbabwe. With the support our community's sports league, my firends and I distributed flyers at our local soccer fields requesting donations of new or used soccer equipment and uniforms. My town’s newspaper got involved and publicized the event. Our public library offered to host a collection box for two weeks. A sporting goods store even donated new soccer gear. The teachers in my school brought in donations from their homes. The response from the community was tremendous! We collected literally a truckload of uniforms, cleats, socks, soccer balls and sneakers. The goods have been distributed to children at five schools in Zimbabwe. The experience was extremely gratifying and humbling. My local soccer league found it to be such a success that they are requesting that it become an annual event. It gave me great pride to know that my efforts made such an impact.