Earlier this year, we shared about a special gift, made by a young man. He had a pair of boots (cleats) that he had outgrown, but were still in pristine condition (see below). His desire? He wanted to see these shoes gifted to someone else who “loves Jesus like I love Jesus.”
Well, the whole of 2020 has been in search of finding the “right fit.” At first, we thought that these boots might make their way overseas as part of a Missionary Athletes International soccer trip for an overseas tournament. When travel restrictions were put in place and the trip was canceled, the shoes got held up.
For a few months, the shoes sat in my office, apart from the other donations. Knowing that they were intended for a special, yet-to-be named person I didn’t want them to get caught up with another project.
We’ve been in touch with Connor Georgopulous who works with MAI’s Chicago Eagles and several youth teams. Connor actually has the shoes now in hand and he texted me recently the plan:
Conor Georgopulous , Chicago Eagles
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
Thomas Fahn, founder and director of Sadaya International and Sadaya Soccer, a few months ago, wrote and requested soccer gear and equipment as they get prepared to travel to Liberia. Their hope is to ship a container mid-November and have the container filled with soccer gear arrive prior to their own return.
A box of gear will be headed to Liberia for Thomas Fahn and Sadaya United.
The Fahn family have been investing heavily in ministry amongst the youth population of Thomas’ native Liberia, one of the poorest countries in the world. Their original request included the following:
20 size 4 balls
30 size 5 soccer balls
50 adult soccer cleats (sizes 7 – 10.5)
32 youth soccer cleats (sizes 5 – 7)
Soccer Chaplains United was able to fulfill the following:
20 (new) size 5 soccer balls
1 size 5 One World Play ball
1 size 4 One Wold Play ball
2 (new) goalkeeper gloves
6 used soccer balls
1 used futsal ball
30+ soccer cones
Unfortunately, we were not able to provide any soccer cleats for Thomas and Sadaya. Most of our remaining sizes are too big to service Sadaya and their needs.
We look forward to seeing the wonderful pictures and a report from Thomas as they get back to Liberia.
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Sadaya-Logo.jpg640638Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2020-11-05 08:00:012020-11-04 14:11:21Leaving for Liberia
We recently received a notification from Amazon that the public charity lists for Soccer Chaplains United had a defect that made impacted the ability for donors to select and make purchases. We apologize if you tried to make a tangible gift donation through one of these lists, the defect has now been corrected.
The SmileAmazon Charity lists are a way for donors to purchase specific items to help Soccer Chaplains United. Whether it is a continuing education book or resource for a chaplain or soccer equipment that we send out on one of our community project fulfillment requests.
You can find the different lists below and see the kinds of items that we need as an organization.
Chaplaincy List — this list includes books and chaplain education resources that we give to our chaplains.
Community List — soccer gear and equipment and items that we send out with our church partners and non-profit groups that request soccer gear.
Organizational List — this list includes some of the administrative and organizational items that we need.
For Thomas and Jamie Fahn, the move from Denver, Colorado, USA to Liberia in August of 2018 to follow the call of God to serve in various areas was a massive move for them and their family. While in Liberia, they have been able to minister to at-risk youth in Monrovia through their soccer academy program. Unfortunately, earlier this year, with COVID-19 they had to return to the United States on an emergency evacuation flight provided by the US Embassy. The Fahns have been back in the US since April 9th, 2020 and by the grace of God — through their church, were able to find some temporary, affordable housing in Fayetteville, Northwest Arkansas. The plan for the Fahns is to make Arkansas a base of operations for now, but to return and make frequent visits to Liberia until things are conducive to return and continue the work.
Boys have fun racing during the soccer training sessions of Sadaya International Academy.
Today, Liberia is considered the poorest country in the world. The country is still recovering from the 15 years of civil unrest and the 2014 outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus. The economic hardship in Liberia can be seen from every street corner and sadly, the youth are the most affected. Many talented Liberian youths are experiencing severe economic hardship, which has reduced them to the level of desperation. Some of them have given up hopes and have buried their talents and indulge in activities such as drug abuse, prostitution, crime and violence. The hopelessness and idleness, especially among the youth breeds crime and other unhealthy behaviors that is leading to the destruction of individuals and their communities.
Thomas (left) gets ready to play some soccer games and drills with the children in Liberia.
During the Fahns short time working with the youth, they realized that most of them dream to be successful soccer players; unfortunately, their desires have not been matched with opportunities to nurture their skills and talents. The future of Liberia lies within in the youthful population, and so, the Fahns have been investing heavily in ministry amongst the youth population, and much of this through Sadya International Academy part of the ministry of Sadaya International (link to Facebook page).
Previously donated water coolers from Soccer Chaplains United are seen supplying the Sadaya International Men’s team. Gear and equipment make the opportunity of being on the team feel professional and meaningful and help keep Liberia’s youth from gangs and drugs.
The request for Sadaya comes at a difficult time with COVID-19 impacting donations and requests around football (soccer). Sadaya’s programs have a total of 110 youth and adult players, divided into teams in age groups U-11, U-13, U-15, U-17 and the men’s team. Their needs in this request include:
20 size 4 balls
30 size 5 soccer balls
50 adult soccer cleats (sizes 7 – 10.5)
32 youth soccer cleats (sizes 5 – 7)
With a return trip slated for December, the Fahns hope to ship items out in advance with a target date of November.
Through Sadaya International Academy, Thomas and Jamie have come to realize that if Liberian youth are to be given a chance, they can be successful in life through sports and education. The goal of the soccer program is to provide them with opportunities to develop not only as soccer players, but also as contributing members of society.
Our soccer program has been very successful in providing hope for some of these young people, and the equipment Soccer Chaplains United has provided us in the past has helped us tremendously in achieving our goals. Thank you very much for your help!
Thomas Fahn, on past partnership with Soccer Chaplains United
Thomas takes a rest break with a couple boys who are sporting local, Colorado club and professional donated gear!
When you financially support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community Project from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals projects and organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/48380046_325957058250426_1039150011369127936_n.jpg460960Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2020-09-03 08:00:002020-08-31 11:19:06Soccer for Sadaya (Liberia)
Today, I will be taking a long drive to deliver the soccer gear and equipment for the Musana Community Project Request. Musana, currently, is the only project that has been able to try and get off the ground in a year stifled by COVID-19. With many countries and non-profit and NGO’s hampered by the global pandemic, Musana continues to try and move forward with their plan to send converted shipping containers (doubling as school and medical rooms) to rural Uganda (outside of Kampala).
Originally, Soccer Chaplains United was able to fill about 10 bins with about 425 lbs. of soccer gear and equipment; but when Valor canceled their trip to Costa Rica and with many churches and groups canceling the typical summer mission trips, the opportunity came to provide Musana with more. Last month, a packing day with some local Christian high school student volunteers helped get Musana double what was originally planned.
20 bins for Musana, carefully and tightly loaded!
Today, nearly 8 months since receiving the request and after numerous revisions to manifests and such, I will load up and deliver 20 bins weighing over 850 lbs. for the Musana fulfillment. In the time that we have been tracking the total weight of different projects, Musana is a record breaker, coming at 863.5 lbs! A much larger project given that items can be shipped via containers. The hope is that in the next month, localized inspections and sealing up the containers for shipping will see all the items finally on their way.
Remember, when you support Soccer Chaplains United, a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals or organizations, and cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/IMG_1186-Edit-scaled.jpeg12301920Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2020-08-06 08:00:002020-08-05 13:44:05Musana Double Down
Last week, a couple of teenagers from Lutheran High School and Valor Christian High School showed up to help Soccer Chaplains United pack out more items for our current (and only project, thus far) for 2020 — the Musana Community Development.
Donated items are sorted, counted, packed, and then weighed
With the goal to fill 10 bins each, the four students, each seeking to find some volunteer hours prior to school starting this fall, were able to get items sorted and counted and bins filled in record time. Maybe it was the cooler day in Colorado, or maybe it was jamming out to the tunes, but each one worked quickly to get things sorted, counted, and packed.
These four teens filled 10 bins in record time — two hours!
You can learn more about the Musana Project by reading the original request for gear and how, with the cancellation of another trip, there will be more going to Uganda this year once the country re-opens.
Remember, when you support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals or organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/IMG_1653-scaled.jpg14401920Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2020-07-09 06:00:002020-07-27 21:27:32Teens Rock the Packing Party
We still have a fulfillment waiting for new project requestor, Musana; however, the delay with lockdown measures has meant that the containers are behind in being finished and with the country of Uganda shut down as well, there haven’t been approvals for the shipping manifesto and the soccer items that we’ve currently got waiting for them. The hope is that the containers might be completed and shipped by late summer.
In the meantime, many church partners have cancelled their international travel and missions trips. I am hoping that there will be some late year requests that will enable us to support our global and local mission work with some soccer gear, but still much remains to be seen.
I am pleased to announce that Soccer Chaplains United will be part of the Denver Prays time happening this upcoming weekend. The Denver Prays movement is a 3-Day Christian virtual prayer meeting stretching from Friday, April 24, 12:01 AM to Sunday, April 26 Midnight. The aim is to pray for the city of Denver during the COVID-19 pandemic and just as the city gets set to loosen its social distancing and shelter-in-place restrictions. You can go to denverprays.com to learn more or to sign up.
Rubèn will lead a prayer hour at 1:00 pm (Mountain) this Sunday.
Pastor Rubèn Rodríguez will be leading a Zoom prayer time on Sunday, April 26 at 1:00 pm Mountain. His prayer topic is specifically for Denver Youth, a fitting subject given his many years as a youth pastor and currently as the Colorado Rapids Development Academy chaplain.
I will be leading a Zoom prayer time on Sunday, April 26 at 2:00 pmMountain in consideration of a typical sports event kickoff time. If you are someone in sport who has been effected by the current global pandemic.
I will be leading a prayer hour at 2:00 pm (Mountain) on Sunday.
I will be leading this prayer hour for those in the sport industry (from youth to professional) that have been effected by the Coronavirus pandemic. Many have certainly considered that there are no sports going on, but we may not have thought of the different people and their lives impacted economically through this time.
Perhaps the first image that comes to mind is the multi-million dollar athlete or owner — they should be fine financially, right? But we forget about the part-time stadium guard who is retired and needs the extra income to make ends meet. We forget about the local businesses near the stadiums that depend on heavy traffic flows to help their monthly revenues. We forget about the front-office and ticket sales staff who are facing furlough, lay-offs, and firings because they don’t have events that they are selling, promoting, or working. We forget about the Olympic athlete and the collegiate athletes — whose scholarships, livelihood, and other parts of their lives have been impacted.
In addition, the realities of the income of sport also include those that play at lower levels. The median salary of an athlete in Major League Soccer is $179,000 and much of the league’s athletes make less than $100k. If you go into the second division of soccer (USL-Championship) and lower you will find players making as little as $500-$1000/ month for an 8-month contract. And their subsidized income from soccer camps and clinics aren’t happening right now because of social distancing regulations.
Please consider joining in to pray with us during this time. We encourage you to join (go to denverprays.com) to sign up for either hour, or to look at some of the other hours and subjects for prayer.
Soccer Chaplains United is non-profit, 501(c)3 developing chaplaincy, counseling, and community service across all levels of soccer.
Dear friends, I wanted to write and personally make an appeal to you. I know that we are facing much uncertainty during the COVID-19 pandemic and I am thankful for the majority of our donors who have remained faithful in their giving; however, we have seen some decline from last year and we know that this year will be challenging in terms of fundraising and generosity.
Yesterday, I wrote about the ongoing chaplaincy work for Soccer Chaplains United and the truth is we are busier in ministry as we seek to serve those we’ve been called to — from the college athlete who may not have a soccer program next year to the part-time stadium and concessions personnel who have had to go in search of other work to subsidize their income to the staff of the soccer teams and organizations that have been laid-off or furloughed.
Added to this is the challenge that we’ve not been able to go out and meet new donors or share our vision personally with partners who might help us continue to serve and grow our ministry work.
Will you consider an extra gift or extra expression of generosity?
— Rev Brad
I’d like to ask you, if you’ve received a stimulus check from the government — and if your needs were already being met, will you consider an extra gift or extra expression of generosity? Of course, please consider giving to your local church first, but if you feel so led, will you consider giving to help Soccer Chaplains United? Your gift will help sustain our ministry and work through this time and the time to come as we serve many in the sport of soccer who are facing devastating times and as we look to continue to develop chaplaincy and counseling resources for so many for whom soccer is their vocation and livelihood.
You can give a safe, secure, electronic, tax-deductible gift via PushPay by clicking the button below or by texting soccerchaplains to 77977. You can also mail a donation to Soccer Chaplains United, PO Box 102081, Denver, CO 80250.
Thank you for your consideration and your generosity during this time.
The global pandemic of Coronavirus has meant quite a few changes in the United States and around the world. Valor Christian High School, originally slated to fly down to Tamarindo, Costa Rica during spring break and the school’s practicum week (March 14 – March 23) ended up canceling the trip along with their other Discovery Team trips.
Although it is difficult not to be in Costa Rica this week, I was filled with joy that our houses were still built and were able to change the lives of two families forever. I am grateful for the hard work team Costa Rica put into the fundraising for the houses and also to our trusted partner that carried out the work in our absence.
On behalf of all the leaders, I would like to thank all families and friends who helped support our team’s mission. I hope the pictures below bring you Joy. And let’s all remember, this was God’s journey for us and we give Him all the Glory!
Mike Wright, Assistant Coach Valor Christian Soccer and Costa Rica Team Leader
While the trip was cancelled, the building materials and supplies had already been ordered and paid for. Local project leader Maximo Cisneros organized local “Ticos” to take on the work of building two new homes for the previously designated poor and needy families in the community.
Maximo (2nd from right) and crew pose in front of one of the completed houses.
Obviously, it was a big disappointment not to get to see our friends and partners and those we’ve worked with in the past, but it was a blessing to see the pictures of the homes completed and the local community folks reaching out and helping.
I hope that the opportunity that we were looking forward to — taking our student athletes into this environment and serving — will be something that we can resume in the near future.
Brian Shultz, Head Coach Valor Christian Soccer and Costa Rica Team Leader
The Soccer Chaplains United gear that had been distributed to the Valor team will be returned and sent out with another Community Project, per project guidelines. We hope to support Valor in a future endeavor once the issues from Coronavirus begin to subside.
When you support Soccer Chaplains United a portion of your gift automatically goes to help our community projects and requests. You can give specifically to help cover our costs by making a gift through PushPay — simply select Community from the selectable funds. Your financial gift helps us purchase new soccer equipment, sponsor individuals or organizations, and to cover associated costs of providing Bibles, soccer equipment, and other outreach tools locally and around the world!
https://soccerchaplainsunited.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/CD50B874-61D2-4BB8-B7A2-7E10BCD1D2C3.jpg360640Brad Kenney/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/SCU_Seal_Logo-300x300.pngBrad Kenney2020-03-26 04:00:002020-07-27 21:29:06Coronavirus Cancels Costa Rica
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