Northern Michigan volunteers raise funds to purchase soccer field in Uganda
LELAND, Mich., (WPBN/WGTU) -- Sometimes, 7th graders can change the lives of hundreds of kids thousands of miles away.
A perfect example of that can be found in Leelanau County, where more than a decade ago a group of students started a campaign to make sure their counterparts in Uganda had the chance to play the sport they all love.
But now, that chance is in jeopardy without a little more help from right here at home.
"It's absolutely huge, it is their sport. And our kids who live in the slums have no access or had no access," said Mary Taylor, the executive director of Kids First Uganda.
Walking the pitch, that the Leland High School Comets call home, Mary Taylor can't help but appreciate the 100 yards of well-trimmed grass, goals with woven nets and the crisp and the freshly painted lines,
That appreciation comes because of where she's been and what she's seen.
"Well, we work in the capital of Uganda, Kampala, and we work deep in the slums. So, it's the poorest of the poor. And the need is horrendous," Taylor said. "When I came back in 2013, I'm like, 'How can I even begin to help?'"
She saw so many differences between here and there, but a common thread that she believed could unite those far away with so little and those at Leland Public Schools, with so much.
"These students learned that these children had, they didn't even have shoes; one soccer ball. They decided to start raising money," Taylor said.
For years, those 7th graders from a soccer powerhouse community raised funds to help make sure these kids at least had a chance to play.
"This 7th grade class worked for five years until they graduated in high school. They got shoes, they got equipment, they got the kids registered so they could have recognized team," Taylor said.
Taylor's efforts and all those 7th graders have paid off.
"2013, there were 23 kids in our soccer program when I went there. One coach, no shoes, no equipment, one soccer ball. And the program has grown to 500 kids," Taylor said.
Five-hundred kids a world away, you have soccer now and a brighter future because of it.
"They learned discipline; they learned that people care for them; they learned that they have a future, and hope and many of them are recruited for full ride scholarships for their education to play soccer on the field," Taylor said.
But that field in Uganda that they been able to use for free for a decade may not be a field for long.
"The man who owned it died and his brother inherited it. And we found out just a couple months ago that he was selling it," Taylor said.
And so, Taylor and the organization she founded, Kids First Uganda, has a new mission.
Over the years they've bought cleats and uniforms and soccer balls.
Now, they're looking to buy the field.
$150,000 is what's needed to make sure the Leland legacy continues in Uganda.
Word got out, and the Leland community quietly stepped up.
But time is ticking.
"So far, we've raised $111,000, we're at 74% to our goal, and I think we're going to we're going to do this. We have no choice; we have to make this program work and keep that field," Taylor said.
A field, in some ways very similar in spirit to the one here, where local kids play, dream, and compete.
Just like those here common ground that continues to serve as a reminder of their similarities and their differences.
"The biggest blessing of this work is connecting kids here with the kids there. We had a pen pal program going on. But the kids here, they live in a pretty affluent area. And they don't know that the rest of the world is not like that. I mean, they learned so much from us and we learned a lot from them. It was it was one of my favorite things that we've done," Taylor said.
If you would like to learn more about the program and the effort to raise enough funds to purchase the field in Uganda, click here.