USED SOCCER EQUIPMENT DONATION PROJECT

Emailed to members of SSA (January 2010)

Parents,

Tosin Ali was a former coach for our organization a couple of years ago and also helped coach the U12 boys Challenge team with Merrill Bush. He also gave some of our kids private soccer lessons -- or just kicked the ball around with many of us while he was here at MSU.

Tosin graduated from MSU with his Masters degree last spring.  At the end of the summer he moved back to his home country of Nigeria.  As you will read below he is working very hard to help the children in Nigeria, playing soccer but also just living life.

>From Tosin,
I am starting a new program on one of the Islands here in Lagos that helps the village kids. The main thing is to coach them and take them to soccer competitions but they are so skinny that we (Claudia, a Doctor friend, and me) decided that we have to provide food for them too. In addition, we will do health and environmental awareness talks and provide health monitoring services to the kids involved. We can handle the food ... we will try to get food and water donations from companies here. We have worked with these companies before so we are confident we will get something from them. Our doctor friend, Dr. Jagun, is the head of the ambulance service in Lagos so he will get his people to do the periodic health checks for the kids. I thought it would be a great idea if you(Starkville Soccer Association) sort of adopt some of these children/teams and help them out.

>From Glenna Sullivan, heading up the effort here in Starkville . . .
If some of you are like me; you have all kinds of soccer socks; shinguards; old cleats; more old uniforms that are just taking up space or collecting dust!  Why don't we all do a little early spring cleaning -- collect any and everything that can be used in soccer and send to these children?!?!?!?!?

Glenna Sullivan in Starkville will be heading up this effort.  She is the manager for the boys u14 Challenge team.  Please contact her if you wish to make a donation.  We may eventually have some sort of place to put donations.  Contact Glenna to help or to organize a donation.    gsullivan@aoce.msstate.edu

Starkville Soccer has in the past made numerous donations locally and abroad for kick-starting other soccer organizations.  Just last year we donated soccer bags and left-over balls to the City of Macon who was starting a soccer league.

Any donation for these folks is a good one.  You would be surprised at how happy you can make a child in Nigeria with the gift of some old soccer cleats.  Keep them in mind as your kids out-grow their gear.

Thanks to all for their goodwill!  Thanks for letting your children play Starkville soccer.