A few weeks ago, Cooper Floto and a team of volunteer coaches, from his high school soccer team, The Denver Eagles, as well as volunteers from my Boy Scout Troop, Troop 794 decided to host a soccer camp for the children of the Shiloh House and reached to CrossTraining’s Timothy Project program for help. The camp was originally designed to take place at the Colorado Miners Community Center near Denver with about 15 – 20 kids between nine and ten twelve years old. But, as you read more of the story below, there were some unexpected moments and changes that happened as part of the camp. Floto wrote to CrossTraining to let us know how the camp went and the Timothy Project donations helped to give to these special children. Read his report below:
With the ground covered in a thin layer of bleached snow, and the temperatures dropping to twenty degrees, a group of seven high school soccer players and seven energetic kids hibernated into a gym for a day of soccer. Laughs continuously erupted from the kid’s smiling faces. The Shiloh House children from the ages of 7 to 11 years old, enjoyed nearly four hours of soccer, fellowship, and God’s love. Grabbing a fresh soccer ball and a new friend, the kids spent hours playing soccer games with the coaches.
Through games and drills, the kids developed their soccer fundamentals and found new friendships with the coaches. Their eyes grew wide when they found out the soccer equipment that was soon to be theirs. Soccer balls, pop-up soccer nets, Colorado Rapids jerseys, orange soccer cones, warm up pants, and Gatorade water bottles fell in front of their eyes. The equipment was used throughout the camp and donated to the Shiloh House at the end of the day. The equipment given to them displayed to them that they ARE valuable and loved by God. The soccer equipment was simply a demonstration of God’s love for the kids. They are WAY more valuable and loved than what could be demonstrated by the soccer equipment, but the equipment did make them very excited.
CrossTraining’s Timothy Project provided brand-new pop-up nets for the children of Shiloh House along with other donations of water bottles and Colorado Rapids gear.
At the end of the day, all the coaches and campers sat on the wood gym floor in a circle for an optional devotional. A few children decided to leave and those who remained sat in the circle with the coaches. The devotional shared that God finds each of the kids valuable and worthy of Jesus’ death.
One of the kids that had left was a young girl named Mikayla. She sat with her back against the cold brick wall of the gym while one of our coaches, Trent, plopped down next to her. Soon, she glanced her brown eyes up at Trent’s face and began to ask questions. She asked Trent questions about God that were fueled by immense curiosity. Trent answered her questions. More curiosity sparked in the eyes of Mikayla. Soon, she asked Trent if she could have a Bible. We only had one Bible, but Mikayla was ecstatic to receive it. With wide brown eyes, she let the Bible press into her small fingers. She promised she would read the whole thing. The giving of a Bible to Mikayla made the other children interested in the Bible and curious about what the book might hold. Interestingly enough, the most tangible results of God working in the children’s lives began because Mikayla decided she did not want to take part in the devotional. God absolutely used something that could have been considered bad and changed it into something amazing.
Floto and his team of volunteers are thankful for CrossTraining and those that helped to support their work with the Shiloh House, Floto shared a final note,
We might never know what seed was planted in the heart of Mikayla that day or in the hearts of the other children at the camp, but we believe it will be a fruitful seed. Thank you for your prayers, help, and donations.
– content contribution by Cooper Floto
If you would like to make a contribution to projects like the Shiloh House please note (Timothy Project) in your donation. Please use the Donate Now link to make a secure PayPal donation. Your financial gift helps to secure additional equipment and to cover associated costs of providing bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
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