COLLECTION DRIVE WITH BETHESDA SOCCER CLUB

Pass with Purpose partnered with Bethesda Soccer Club (BSC) for its first collection drive. 

From July-November 2023, BSC member families donated over 1,000 team jerseys and shorts along with hundreds of pairs of team socks, sweatshirts and warm-ups. The team gear arrived in Zambia in early 2024 and for the past few months has been handed out by Peace Corps volunteers to children in need who live in remote areas of the country. These children will now be able to have uniforms of their own as well as matching uniforms with their teammates so that when they play soccer, they will feel a sense of unity and pride. 

Thank you to BSC for helping to promote this collection drive, PJ's Soccer/Lacrosse for allowing us to place collection bins in its store, and of course to all the BSC member families who donated the gear. Thank you also to Tricia Bickley of the Peace Corps for helping to coordinate this effort and make this "pass" happen to so many impoverished children. We will continue to share pictures and videos of the Zambian children wearing and playing soccer in the kits as we receive them.

As a result of the collection drive for team kits with BSC, Pass with Purpose also received a lot of non-BSC team gear. We were happy to hand deliver and donate that additional gear to the St. Maarten Football Federation in Philipsburg, St. Maarten. The Federation is the governing body for soccer in St. Maarten and oversees the youth soccer clubs on the island. Many of the children who play for these clubs will benefit from the donated gear. 

We are grateful to Jose Sommers of Foresee Foundation's NPOwer for helping to make this "pass" happen. We also appreciate the assistance of Rajesh Chintaman of Foresee Foundation as well as Ronnie Wadilie and Gene Kemble of the St. Maarten Football Federation.

In March 2024, the St. Maarten Football Federation hosted a soccer festival for girls and the additional non-club specific team gear collected by Pass with Purpose from the drive with Bethesda Soccer Club was passed out to the participants.