By Delaney Hawkes
Contributing Writer
The ability to run around on the field and kick a soccer ball is often a luxury that is taken for granted. Every Friday at lunch in room 46, members of the Kleats for Kids club, organized by sophomores Brooke Gleason, Danielle Major and Hanna Watkins, come together to collect and distribute soccer supplies to the less fortunate.
The club raises money to provide inner city Los Angeles schools with soccer equipment. The club conducts a variety of fundraisers in order to raise money for the cause. This year, the club held a fundraiser at California Pizza Kitchen, in which 20% of each bill was donated to the club, sold Krispy Kreme Donuts at club day at Costa and held bake sales by the Manhattan Beach Pier. Gleason, Major and Watkins also stationed donation boxes around Manhattan Beach Middle School for sports equipment.
“Fundraising is an efficient and enjoyable way to raise money for a good cause,” said Hannah Ortega, Co-Vice President of Kleats for Kids club.
The club raised nearly $200 on Feb. 13 during their CPK fundraiser. The club also help a bakes sale on March 2, where it raised approximately $300. Over the course of the year, the club has raised $650, of which they plan to donate to various inner city Los Angeles elementary schools.
“With the money we have raised, we are hoping to eventually expand the club by making a deal with a bigger sports company in order to raise awareness for our club and its cause,” sophomore Treasurer of Kleats for Kids Candace Cameron said.
Along with raising money, the club also collects new and used soccer gear for inner city and underprivileged children. So far they have collected over 200 athletic items, ranging from baseball jerseys to soccer cleats. In addition to collecting items for local underprivileged kids, the club has also collected over 70 items which they plan to send to disadvantaged children in Uganda.
On the week of February 11, Nancy Watkins, mother of Hanna Watkins, went on a trip to Uganda and took the soccer gear that the club collected and delivered it to the children in the town.
“Uganda was a very good way for Kleats for Kids to reach out globally and step out of our community,” Hanna Watkins said
In the future, the Kleats for Kids club plans on “adopting” a school in Ventura, California. They will donate athletic gear to that school regularly and will also go to the school to mentor and teach the children soccer.
“We look forward to helping the children in Ventura because they are relatively close but live a completely different lifestyle and we want to give them the gift of soccer,” sophomore Co-Vice President Layne Eichenlaub said.
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