Recycled Athletic Shoe Financing - A New Method Of Financing Development

Soccer For Life

Project Athletic Shoes For Youth Empowerment

Collect 500 Pairs of Athletic Shoes/Soccer Cleats and Build A Small Youth Empowerment Village Tourism Project

Shipping Fund

One Of The Most Difficult Part of Our Soccer For Life Project Is Funding For

 Shipping To Honduras, Help Us Build A Shipping Fund

Funding Through Soccer Tournaments! 

Share Your Cup Of Hope By Donating 1% Of Your Tournament Receipts To Soccer For Life. All Funds Are Tax Deductible.

Project Athletic Shoes For Building Income Generation

It takes a village to build a child.  How many times have you heard that?  When you look at the programs on tv asking you to send money every month don't you wonder if what you are doing is building a child?

Soccer For Life offers you the opportunity through Project Athletic Shoe to build a child through participation as a member of a virtual village community.  This virtual village will be reflected in an onsite small scale tourism project being developed for youth entrepreneurship. This model was developed after much brainstorming in Honduras.  This is based on a concept called EcoAgroForestry, first developed by Dr. Carol Cross in 1995 as a method of sustainable development. A key resources of Soccer for Life in Honduras is Lic. Caceres, the Federal Minister of Youth in Honduras.  Lic. Caceres noted that 200 students graduated from the colegio and there are only two available jobs.  The greatest ambition of these youth is to "go mojado" or become an illegal immigrant to the USA. We came up with the idea of  "Recycled Athletic Shoe Financing". With this method of financing, we can keep these youth in their communities and they can serve as the focal point to develop sustainable tourism in Intibuca.  We will offer community membership cards to all donors to show you are a part of this innovative virtual village community.

What Is A Sneaker Drive?

A Sneaker Drive is a dedicated project with specific time objectives.  The purpose of a Sneaker Drive is to collect soccer and sports gear -  balls, soccer cleats, basketball shoes, sneakers, nets, soccer goals, uniforms, jerseys, shorts, shin guards, soccer socks, pinnies, warm-up clothes, sports bags, cones, chalk, water bottles, ball needles, first aid kits,  t-shirts, and other items for sports.  It is a project that is based on our Leadership Through Sharing Model, that we who have should share with those who do not have.  We should do it bedause it can help our own survival.  We should share because it is the right thing to do.

A Sneaker Drive should have a beginning and an ending date.  A Sneaker Drive is a fun, service project where your young athletes can have fun, practice their communication skills,  raise funds and build their personal self esteem. A Sneaker Drive will involve your members in placing collection boxes, sending emails to their email list, talking to friends at school, sending notes home to soccer parents. . We will provide scripts for your youngster on what to say and how to say it when seeking collection. We will put together a password protected page for your use once you decide to offer a Sneaker Drive .  In addition we will place your event on our Soccer For Life Fundraising Calendar with a link to your club web site.

Planning The Sneaker Drive

Having a successful Sneaker Drive  requires planning. Here are some of things you need to put in place to have a successful Sneaker Drive :

Developing the plan

The plan will be developed by the committee you pull together.  Here are some kinds of meetings you might hold in developing this Sneaker Drive :

A short Charette to:

A Charette will serve to challenge your people to rapidly, openly, and honestly confront the challenge of making your Sneaker Drive  work.

You will receive complete support for your charette meeting including needed forms and scripts.  In holding a charette your group can generate many possible ideas for the Sneaker Drive  and Fundraising as it  encourages openness and creativity.

 A charrette involves significant resolves.  The chief items are sufficient space and background materials and an experienced leader.  Graphics must be used so that participants can quickly comprehend the problem and envision alternative solutions.  Background materials must be available at the start of the charrette so that no time is lost in
investigating the problem. A charette for your fund raising day will take a lot of time but it can serve for community building.

We will provide a turnkey donation Sneaker Drive  charette program

It will include

Your people will learn from the first charette

The charette will take a minimum of 1 1/2 hours and up to 3.

Training Your Committee

You will need to train your committee members in how to run the Sneaker Drive . It will be a good idea to have a rehearsal with the roles of each committee member chosen to play a particular role.  You could show the power point presentation of these steps. This power point presentation is available to you on a password protected page once you log in to offer a Sneaker Drive .

We will prepare a video of the lives of children in Intibuca so your people can understand the importance of what they are doing. The video will show children receiving donated gear and those looking on with longing.

You may also want to show the video tape in your church or other organization.
Videotapes reach a broad audience for participation. People who
cannot be reached in any other way may react to a videotape.

In addition you may create a dry run of your field. Videotapes can be used for dry runs of presentations.  Presenters can act out a presentation and review it on tape.  Critiques can then be made of the presentation in terms of voice modulation, posture, body
language, jargon, use of visual materials, etc.

You might also want to send a copy of the video to your local public access television station.

Securing the Space

Getting a place to hold the Sneaker Drive  will not be a problem if you have your own dedicated field.  If your group does not own its own field, you have to obtain space from:

Getting Permission From Parents

You must obtain permission from participants who are not part of your club or group.

Organizing The Sneaker Drive

The Sneaker Drive  can be organized with this framework

Before The Drive

During The Drive

Organizing Collections

Packing Boxes

Support For Members

Preparation for Project Entry in Summer 2008 Leadership Through Sharing Tournament and Leadership Program in Florida

This is an optional activity for groups who have made collections to enter their project in the AYSLE awards program.  This project could be done by Nonactive members.

Publicizing The Sneaker Drive

There are several ways to publicize the event:

To publicize the event you will need the following:

How you will use the above will vary.  A key is to always carry you brochures and flyers as well as bookmarks with you to give away.  We will prepare and place them on a password protected page.

Telephone Techniques

You may use the telephone in several ways

The telephone can be a valuable asset in developing your Sneaker Drive .

a.  You can set up a telephone chain to all parents in the club and ask them to call five of their friends or family members

b. You can call local TV and radio channels with a short information release by telephone contact
c. You can set up your answering machine with a message about the Sneaker Drive

d.  You can call local groups like the YMCA, churches and invite them to participate

Media Plan

There are many ways to use the media.  There are newspapers, radio, TV, video, message sign, take one pads, local bulletin boards, distribution of flyers in malls.

Try to get donations of air time and space for use as well as free public service ads.

Some groups get full-size newspaper supplements sponsored by donors.

See if your local Public access channels will video tape your charette and play them over and over to show community activity.  Local cable channels often have news programs, guest editorials, and interviews where project issues can be highlighted.

Internet Strategy

You can do a lot to get people involved through the internet.  Some strategies might include

Video Usage

Most videos these days are found on CDs or DVDs.  That means that there is probably someone in your group with a digital camera that takes short videos. Get that person involved from making videos of meetings to the Sneaker Drive  as well.  People understand a video. And it can be used after the event for follow-up.
 

A video may be worth a thousand words.  An easily understood video
Videos of Honduras soccer programs also can be taken to local schools to use with social studies classes as well as to churches and other community group. When the video tape is shown there can subsequent discussion.
.
They can expose our privileged youth with what life is like in other countries and let them share the reality of children making soccer balls from chip bags. Our children can thus feel what these children in Honduras are going through and this can develop empathy.

Personal Communication

Nothing takes the place of face to face communication. Talking to others everywhere you go is an ideal way to spread the word.

Running The Sneaker Drive

As a result of all the planning, the walk through can be done as a rehearsal. A dry run often helps but by following the step by step guidelines here you can have a successful Sneaker Drive . 

Steps include:

Getting commitment from the youth and adult who will be running the Sneaker Drive

Having them practice the defined event they will be doing.

What to say

How to be courteous

How to express gratitude

Getting needed material together

Collection boxes

sign up sheets

Thank yu cards for those who allow the boxes to be placed

Organizing Donations Of Funds and Uniforms

Collecting for shipping

 This should be collected by two very trustworthy volunteers.  In addition you may collect checks and other donations. You will need to take the names of everyone who gives cash so we can supply them with donation tax certificates.  All fund must be send to Soccer for Life to this address.

Shipping Donations To Honduras

When the donations of soccer gear come in, count the items.  pack them in boxes no bigger than 24 x 24 x 18.They should be labeled and have a donation invoice within the box.  Also email Dr. Cross at sfl@hmradvencen.com  with the list of donated items from your group.

We would also appreciate your send photos of the charette and of the Sneaker Drive . For every Sneaker Drive  that your group runs we will put you website highlighting your group and showing your photos.  Make sure you get photo releases from the parents so we can use their kids images on the website.

Sending Funds To Soccer For Life

Funds can be sent the following way:

A.  Checks and money order

B.  Western Union

C.  Direct Deposit

D.  PayPal

Activities For Non Athletes or Nonactive Members Of the Group Or Committee

There are many youth and adults who would love to be a part of this project but are unable to walk, have hearing and vision limitation. Then there are those who are temporarily disabled. They too can participate.

Nonactive members can:

a. Make phone calls

b.  write letters

c  write thank you calls

d.  Man tables at the event

e.  Make presentation of slides and PowerPoint

f.  Take photos and make drawing of the project

g.  Give out materials

h. wash cleats and other items

i  pack boxes

j. make labels

k.  do inventory

l.  setup an email chain with their friends

Good luck on your fund raising and Sneaker Drive .  We at Soccer for Life are interested in helping you with your event. As soon as you decide on the date, we will put up a webpage about your event and send traffic through it from the Soccer for Life page.

Why Should Your Group Have A Sneaker Drive

How Will Your Group Benefit From A Sneaker Drive

What Are The Steps You Need To Take

1.  Order The Sneaker Drive Kit From Soccer For Life.  It includes

How and Why To Run A Sneaker Drive

Photocopy Masters of These Documents

Our activities will be transparent as we will document each step in the  youth program for each Virtual Village project and post it to our website. Each Virtual village consortium will have its own website. You will also receive a free copy of MSN Messenger and a free Hotmail email address and a Yahoo group. As a member of the Project Athletic Shoe Consortium you will become part of a village that helps a child in Honduras escape his or her poverty stricken lives.  You will become part of a four part village.  You may be invited where feasible to visit Honduras and observe the youth being financed by your donation at work. Your village will be  composed of:

 The mountain cloud forests of Intibuca are exquisite.  Fog creates droplet of ethereal beauty as the pure white clouds come down to meet the earth.  Ferns grow in profusion as we see places where no foot has ever trod.  Hills and mountains abound, reminding one of Oregon.  Sustainable tourism could be the answer to income generation in these mountains communities, many of which have no electricity.  The problem is the cost of developing tourism is out of reach.  Even a simple thing like a clean toilet and a flower garden that could attract tourists is out of the questions.  If you drive in these mountains there are no rest areas or places to stop and get clean water or use the bathroom.

Soccer for Life is partnering with MOTILES, S. A., a Honduras consulting firm to develop the Camino Lenca designed to be a series of locally owned small scale tourism projects.  We call this the "Camino Lenca Tourism Cluster - a series of small hostels". Each Small Scale project will be developed by a YOUTH PARTICIPANT on HIS FAMILY LAND as a  joint venture with MOTILES and Soccer for Life. Every project will serve the community by putting in an improved soccer field (either a new one or fix up the present one). Each will have a combination or one or more of these modules:

Step By Step Guidelines For Collecting Sneakers

Empowering Youth Through Project Athletic Shoe

This will be a family project, led by one of the soccer youth we work with here. The young person will be called a YOUTH PARTICIPANT.  What will a family need to create this project?

A four way VILLAGE.  A square is the most stable form there is.

Here are the four Village Members:

Village Member One

YOU as collector, donor and fundraiser and athletic shoes (size 6 and larger).

There is a complete guideline for collecting athletic shoes and other soccer gear through a fund raising Field Day, includes all the steps you need.

Village Member Two

Soccer for Life will serve as the collector for the athletic shoes and provide tax deduction receipts to donors.  Soccer for Life will collect seeds and obtain donated tools for the project as well as funds for shipping to Honduras

Village Member Three

MOTILES will clean the athletic shoes, hire workers to repair and market the shoes.  MOTILES will also administer the project, oversee construction of project and have part ownership of the project to ensure its is organic, sustainable and environmentally sound.  MOTILES will have the responsibility to train the YOUTH PARTICIPANT in sustainable methods and continue monitoring the project.  In addition, MOTILES will put up a website marketing the small tourism project.  We will teach YOUTH PARTICIPANT English and courtesy to train these young people as tourism guides.

Village Member Four

The YOUTH PARTICIPANT  will offer sweat equity in building structures, planting crops, maintaining cleanliness of the project, serving the customer etc

Activities-  employment generation -training, sustainable development, economic development

See complete step by step outline of how your project will work