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Soccer charity drive off to running start

Soccer For Souls hopes to share its love of the game with those less fortunate.

By JOEL POILEY
© St. Petersburg Times
published September 17, 2002

TAMPA -- From Wimauma to Honduras, excited youngsters soon will receive their first pair of soccer cleats.

The cleats are a gift from a group of soccer-playing teens who formed a nonprofit organization, Soccer For Souls. The goal is to combine a love of soccer with the power of communion to those less fortunate.

The concept was simple: Get teams at the Black Watch Labor Day Tournament to donate at least 10 pairs of used shoes and equipment. With 124 teams playing at four Tampa area sites, the storage warehouse near the Black Watch complex quickly filled with hundreds of shoes, dozens of uniforms and plenty of balls and shin guards.

Allison Tutwiler, 38, and Marisol Pecora, 42, came up with the idea as they traveled to their children's soccer events. For the past two years, they saw soccer's vast popularity nationally and abroad and sought to donate shoes and equipment to needy children. Building on the interest of the World Cup in June also was a factor.

They combined their backgrounds running businesses with the help of Bill Burton, CEO of Gold Cup Coffee. Burton, a youth soccer advocate who serves on the board of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Tampa Bay, donated money to start the program.

"Marisol pointed out how many pairs of soccer shoes get tossed," Tutwiler said. "Soccer is the top participant sport in the world, so we figured we could give them away to kids all over the world who have never had a pair of soccer shoes. Then we talked to the kids, and one idea built on another. They have taken the idea and run with it."

Implementing those ideas is the responsibility of a youth board of advisers comprised of Ashley Tutwiler, 17, Jacquie Peek, 16, Spencer Brooks, 15, and Ryan O'Conner, 16. All are in Black Watch and live in North Tampa.

Ashley Tutwiler, who serves as president, penned the organization's bylaws. She was responsible for contacting teams at the Labor Day tournament about donations.

The board lines up volunteers to collect shoes, records service hours and spreads the word to other students and soccer organizations. Junior Achievement is to assist the board with setting up a nonprofit business.

"It doesn't feel like a business or work because it's soccer stuff," said Tutwiler, a senior at Tampa Catholic. "Soccer's pretty much my life anyway, so this is an extension of that.

"It took five to six months to plan this tournament, but the idea has grown in interest very fast. Every kid has extra pairs of shoes in their garage that they don't wear anymore. Most teams brought a lot more than 10 pairs."

Ashley's mother and Pecora help behind the scenes, promoting the idea and finding clubs who need equipment. Burton suggested talking to Boys and Girls Club president Roy Opfer, who thought clubs in Wimauma and Dover would be interested in starting soccer programs.

Pecora had contacts with Honduras Outreach, an organization that helps Hondurans develop schools, learn trades and develop youth recreational activities.

"Even 14- and 15-year-old boys want to get involved," said Pecora, director of the Labor Day tournament. "Usually that's the hardest group to get involved. They want to coach the kids in Wimauma and Dover. We've tapped into something they love."

Opfer said his main goal is to get the equipment and coaching necessary to start programs at the Boys and Girls Clubs.

"They (Soccer For Souls) will send people over to organize soccer leagues and bring experienced coaches to teach kids the game," Opfer said.

That will happen in November. Shoes and equipment will be shipped to Honduras in October.

"Every kid over there grows up playing soccer," Allison Tutwiler said. "They have no televisions. They play in their bare feet with rolled-up tape for balls and sticks for goals.

"I received a fax from them the other day, they don't have e-mail, about how they can't believe we're shipping 1,000 pairs of shoes."

Honduras plans to launch an elementary school program with the donated equipment. Word of mouth about the program produced a call to Tutwiler from a soccer club in Massachusetts.

"The beauty of the Boys and Girls Club is that if we take Soccer For Souls to Massachusetts or any place in the country, then we automatically have a connection there," she said. "Massachusetts has a strong Brazilian influence, so their outreach could be Brazil. Everything we're doing we're trying to partner in a way that makes sense geographically in that community."

Long-term, Soccer For Souls would like to raise money to send kids to camp. For now, however, shoes will keep the club running.

"Soccer is a great platform for getting kids together," Allison Tutwiler said, "and making a difference in their community."

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