Soccer charity

Last week we engaged in a little charity when we raised money to buy Landon Donovan and his fiancée a wedding gift.

During that process, a couple reader comments caught my eye and, frankly, left me feeling a little guilty. The gist of the comments was that the money raised would be better off going to charity. Well, I heard you.

I’m not sure that I want to start another fundraising effort so quickly after the Landon Donovan Wedding Gift Fund Drive, but I’ll leave that up to you. I’ve spent a few days researching and believe that I’ve found my favorite soccer-related charity: America SCORES.

From the organization’s website:

America SCORES provides a host of resources to urban communities across the country. These include the following:

Soccer and Creative Writing Curricula that include complete lessons for developing teamwork, leadership, and communication skills among urban youth.

Professional Development resources to foster the development of urban public school teachers and coaches.

Technical Assistance to support and develop our soccer/academic enrichment model for both boys and girls within urban public schools.

National Publications that are by kids and for kids that highlight the academic accomplishments of our students throughout the year.

Challenge Grants to committed individuals who want to develop soccer/academic enrichment programs for inner-city urban youth served by their public schools.

I’ve picked this charity for two reasons. First, it helps kids learn to write. The great novelist, E. M. Forster, said, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” Writing allows one to develop sound beliefs. Moreover, by examining boring things like sentence structure and verb tenses, one learns to think analytically. Writing is the foundation of critical thinking.

The second reason I’ve selected America SCORES is that it is helps kids in the United States. I think organizations like Grassroot Soccer and Ball For All are great, I prefer to see us reinvest in this country’s at-risk communities.

So, on Friday, I’m going to make a donation on behalf of ThroughBall.com readers, in the amount of the price of Landon Donovan’s gift. If you would like to add to that amount, contact me for details or visit America SCORES.