Updated: January 10, 2008

Article originally published in Montclair Soccer Pitch, Dec. 7, 2007. Vol 1, Issue 6.  See PDF version HERE.

 

This year the Montclair Soccer Club decided to

upgrade the uniforms our kids play in. a move that

made us all look good on the fields of play. It also left

us with lots of old uniforms that were no longer

needed. We didn’t have to work very hard to figure

out ways to make valuable use of these old uniforms,

because our community is full of people already

engaged in good works overseas. The old uniforms

were divided into three lots, all destined for existing,

effective programs in Africa.

 

The first lot went to Tanzania, via a neighbor of MSC

equipment coordinator Kathleen Kline, who writes:

“My neighbor has been traveling to Tanzania for

years. She single-handedly organized relief aid for a

small village, took about 40 children under her wing as

orphans, and finally, after a few year’s effort, was

joined by others. She is the only white woman

allowed in this village. They have built her a house,

which she lives in probably 3 months out of the year.

Each year, she has been putting together a crate,

which she pays for herself and takes to Africa and

distributes—in person, of course.”

 

The second lot went to Ghana, supporting an ongoing

program that one of my team families has been

engaged in since dad Lewis Bundy was a grad

student. Sierra Bundy, one of my U16 players, writes:

“The Mau-Mau Soccer Club is a boy’s soccer team in

Accra, Ghana. These boys, ages 6 through 16, are

some of the most amazing young soccer players in

the world today. However, the 50 players in this club

have nothing: no gear or equipment. Their field is just a dirt lot,

filled with sticks and stones. My father and I have

been sending over cleats, shin guards, balls, shorts,

jerseys, and anything else that might benefit them in

their playing and training for the past couple of years.

We are very grateful to Montclair Soccer Club for

their donation to the Mau-Mau Soccer Club.”

 

The third lot went to Malawi, supporting a program

that Cal professor and native Malawian Sam

Mchombo has been engaged in over the past several

years, supporting kids in a poor country ravaged by

AIDS. Sam works with local community organizations

to organize teams that motivate needy youth. The

kids have to pledge to behave and work hard in

school in order to participate on the teams. In the

past he has organized the Malawi version of the Big

Game, with a Cal-outfitted team playing a Stanford

outfitted team. In 2008 we will have soccer teams

wearing the red and white of MSC in the rift valley

region of East Africa, and in the lush forests of West

Africa.

 

All of these programs are appreciative to MSC,

which, after all, had a disposal problem to cope with.

With only a little extra effort we were able to not only

provide for the continued valuable use of our

equipment within the soccer context, we were able to

save space in the Altamont landfill. And you thought

soccer couldn’t produce a win-win outcome.

Gregg Morris, MSC Outreach Coordinator

Old uniforms gain new life