On Friday, July 26, Foundation Board Member Kirk Chin and Foundation Development Director Rebecca Thomas went to Spanish Town, Jamaica to donate roughly 200 Orlando City Soccer shirts and shorts for the youth on behalf of Orlando City Soccer Club. The donation went to the Golden Youth Police Youth Club, who is looking to enhance the community and allow opportunities for children to better their lives.
Both Orlando City representatives were warmly welcomed upon arrival into the urban area. The days events began with a coaching session where the children were grouped into two teams of about fourteen members each. The older group, most of which consisted of high school-aged youths, chose to use the purple kits. The younger group, composed mostly of elementary-aged children, opted to wear the red Orlando City youth jerseys. Some of the children, however, chose not to wear their newly acquired tee-shirts because they did not want to get them dirty.
By donating the Orlando City tee-shirts to the two teams these children now had the oppurtunity to wear matching uniforms for game days, something they had been unable to do for previous events. Following the training session, Kirk and Rebecca were honored with a ceremony of appreciation held by the President, Founder and PYC Council Chairman of the Constabulary Force-The Jamaican Constabulary Force of Community Safety and Security Branch.
The Orlando City Foundation will further look to donate to this specific area in the hopes of creating a thriving soccer community amongst the children of Spanish Town.
To be able to contribute needed equipment to a community in another part of the world is a truly moving experience, let alone witnessing this encounter from a first hand perspective. To see the conditions that often times exist in certain communities truly moves the heart when one experiences first hand what their contributions are going towards. It is not rare to see the children of Spanish Town regularly playing without socks or shoes because sufficient gear is not readily available for them to use. For more on this incredible experience of charitable giving to the community of Spanish Town, Jamaica Foundation Development Director Rebecca Thomas shares her thoughts below:
“Two police jeeps escorted us as we entered the area of Spanish Town known as Marks Pen and pulled up next to a very narrow sidewalk with a gate directly in front of the opening to the soccer field. Several police officers soon directed our way and we crowded through the slim slab of concrete onto the soccer field. As we were making small talk, a group of high school aged boys began a small warm up on the field and soon were followed by a group of elementary aged boys. Both groups sang small chants to make it through their exercises.
Rather than counting, music accompanied many daily routines in Jamaica and again proved to be the most appropriate form of tracking time for this group of children. Our small group soon entered the field that was composed of dry dirt and patches of grass. Rather than cones, the boys used empty juice containers to mark their goals and sidelines.
While the older group ran their own training session, I had the opportunity to juggle with the children of the center. These children seemed to embody all that is wonderful and disconcertingly beautiful about the children here, in Jamaica. All round cheeks and soft skin and tiny chubby hands and a pout – the pout that is, I think, universal to children – but, too, they are solemn, and proud, and their eyes they have an age that you can’t measure in months and years. As we continued to kick the ball around the children’s faces lit up with smiles full of excitement. While shoes and socks were lacking passion and abilities were not. The children and I exchanged several skills while playing together. Each was eager to teach me their favorite move and to see if I could mimic it back for them. While the skills they showed to me were not foreign the names of each skill proved to be a challenge to remember!
Following the field session we were asked to accompany the police officers back to an old train station lot to be honored as special guests for a small parade the town had put together to thank Orlando City for their donation. While seeming to forget the dangers the outside world could bring while playing amongst the children on the soccer field, we were quickly brought back to reality as several officers encircled Mr. Chin and myself with large weapons to ensure our safety.
News cameras and Jamaican representatives were in attendance. The children put on a huge display for us as apart of a movement-taking place in Spanish Town, the community leaders are looking to decrease gang violence and drugs while increasing the perspective of life in the area.
The celebration began with a Jamaican High School “ROTC” group showing off their skills, quickly followed by the East Central St. Catherine’s Marching Band. The band members and dancers ranged from 5-18 years in age. They filled the area with joyful music while the girls of the dance group proved to show off some of their most festive Jamaican dance moves.
The evening concluded with a speech from the Jamaican Constabulary Force as well as Mr. Chin and myself. When the speeches concluded children of all ages came up to meet us on behalf of their town. I left this lively community believing that we could not have chosen a more fitting area for this donation to go to. They are truly a community in the process of achieving the goals set forth for the benefit of their small urban area and are committed to making positive changes. These children have taught me so much about human nature and compassion while continuously wearing the biggest smiles on their faces. ‘Thank You,’ to and from the children of the towns we visited, and to whoever’s lives we have changed together in a positive way. I look forward to further donating to the area in the years to come.”
