NEW YORK (Tuesday, December 10, 2002) - The U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year honoree from each of Major League Soccer's 10 teams has selected the charity that will benefit from a monetary donation made in his name on behalf of the Foundation. The U.S. Soccer Foundation annually recognizes the efforts made by each club's Humanitarian of the Year by donating a cash grant to the organization of the players' choice. The U.S. Soccer Foundation will provide a greater sum to the charity selected by MetroStars defender Steve Jolley, who was named the League's Humanitarian of the Year for the 2002 season.
"The Foundation is dedicated to enriching lives through soccer, and the wonderful work done by this year's award winners helps us reach that goal," said James D. Hamilton, Chairman of the U.S. Soccer Foundation.
The U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian Award recognizes the MLS player who demonstrates exemplary community involvement. Candidates for the honor were nominated based upon their involvement for a variety of philanthropic endeavors and community-oriented initiatives during the 2002 MLS season. The U.S. Soccer Foundation sponsored the award, which was established in 2000, for the first time this year. The following is a rundown of the charities selected by each of the ten team honorees.
C.J. BROWN, CHICAGO FIRE: Chicago SCORES (1211 South Western Ave. - Chicago,
IL)
STEVE SHAK, COLORADO RAPIDS: Colorado Rapids Community Care Foundation (555 17th Street - Denver, CO)
BRIAN DUNSETH, COLUMBUS CREW: Make-A-Wish Foundation Central Ohio (941 Chatham Lane - Columbus, OH)
EDDIE POPE, D.C. UNITED: The Eddie Pope Foundation (P.O. Box 158 - Centreville, VA)
MATT JORDAN, DALLAS BURN: YMCA of Dallas (601 N. Akard - Dallas, TX)
CHRIS KLEIN, KANSAS CITY WIZARDS: Fellowship of Christian Athletes (8701 Leeds Road - Kansas City, MO)
MAURICIO CIENFUEGOS, LOS ANGELES GALAXY: The Galaxy Foundation (1010 Rose Bowl Drive - Pasadena, CA)
STEVE JOLLEY, METROSTARS: Just Jolley Charitable Foundation (385 Park Ave. - Weehawken, NJ)
BRIAN KAMLER, NEW ENGLAND REVOLUTION: Dana-Farber Cancer Institute (44 Binney Street - Boston, MA)
JIMMY CONRAD, SAN JOSE EARTHQUAKES: Leukemia and Lymphoma Society (675 N. First St. - San Jose, CA)
A winner of the Chicago Fire Humanitarian of the Year award for the second consecutive year, defender C.J. Brown will be contributing to Chicago SCORES, an intensive after-school program which aims to strengthen urban public school communities through soccer, literacy and community service. Five days each week, for two and a half hours each day, Chicago SCORES' writing and soccer coaches challenge students to strive for excellence. Enrolled in SCORES through their public schools, the students participate in writing and soccer activities on alternate afternoons, gaining the opportunity to write poetry, stories, and drama and to play soccer. Chicago SCORES is Illinois' only after-school program to combine literacy and soccer training as youth development tools for young at-risk students and has been recognized as a unique and innovative approach to education and youth development. The program works with eight elementary schools in the North Lawndale, East Garfield Park and Near West Side communities on the west side of Chicago serving a total of 240 students. Each school involves 30 students (15 boys and 15 girls) who participate in creative writing workshops two days a week, soccer practice two days a week, and organized soccer games one day a week.
Rapids defender Steve Shak, who spent hundreds of hours involved in community activities in 2002, will donate to the Colorado Rapids Community Care Foundation. Shak's involvement including autograph signings, appearances at local camps, hospital visits at Children's Hospital and talks with kids about the dangers of peer pressure and substance abuse, The Foundation is the 501c3 non-profit official Foundation of the Colorado Rapids. The Colorado Rapids Community Care Foundation strives to promote and encourage underprivileged children to participate in activities such as soccer, as a means to build character, improve self-esteem, and to develop interpersonal and leadership skills. This year it has reached a record $100,000 milestone in fundraising efforts.
The charity of choice of Crew defender Brian Dunseth, who was a regular on school appearances and personal hospital visits in 2002, is the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Central Ohio. The chapter opened its doors in 1997 in order to reach out further across the state to make a difference in the lives of more children with life-threatening illnesses. With a mission of granting wishes and enriching the human experience with hope, strength and joy, the chapter has granted hundreds of wishes to children in the local community and has set a goal of granting 110 wishes in 2002-2003 in Central Ohio. The Make-A-Wish Foundation was founded in 1980 after a little boy named Chris Greicius realized his heartfelt wish to become a state trooper. Since that time, the Foundation has grown into the largest professional wish granting organization in the world with 78 chapters in the United States and its territories, and 22 international affiliates on five continents, reaching more than 97,000 children worldwide.
Since 1997, defender Eddie Pope, who has been recognized twice as D.C. United's Humanitarian of the Year, has worked to introduce the sport of soccer to inner-city youth in North Carolina and the Washington, D.C. area. Through his non-profit foundation, The Eddie Pope Foundation, Eddie works with area Boys and Girls Clubs to also address health, nutrition and other personal issues. With the belief that soccer provides a venue for children to learn and build teamwork skills and gives them a sense of personal achievement, the EPF's mission is to use the sport of soccer to help develop the mind, body and spirit of at-risk youths. The Foundation exposes children, particularly those who face special challenges, to the sport of soccer and provides low-income community children with a program that offers these kids an alternative to drugs, teenage pregnancy and violence. The program manages The Eddie Pope Urban Soccer League (created in 1997) and oversees The Use Your Head Educational Program (created in 1998) that includes programs on nutrition, anti-drug/anti-smoking and anti-violence mentoring.
In addition to the numerous appearances and autograph sessions that he attends throughout the year, goalkeeper Matt Jordan is also heavily involved in the YMCA's Making Values a Priority (MVP) program. The mission of the YMCA is to help build strong kids, strong families and strong communities through quality programs and services. As part of his involvement in the MVP program, Jordan speaks regularly with children about the importance of being involved in sports and how the lessons learned by being part of a team can carry over into other aspects of their lives.
Chris Klein's charity is the Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). FCA is an athletic ministry, constituted primarily with athletes and coaches from the junior high through to the professional levels. It is an influencing ministry, using athletics as its platform and athletes and coaches as its role models and spokespersons to reach the world influenced by athletics. It aids athletes and coaches in maintaining or restoring relationships and directing athletes and coaches toward the family and church. The organization's goal is to have a presence on every high school campus in America. Currently there are over 7,700 Huddles with an estimated 500,000 students involved (about 24 percent of the schools in America). The FCA headquarters are located in Kansas City just across from Arrowhead Stadium.
Mauricio Cienfuegos, the L.A. Galaxy Humanitarian of the Year for the second consecutive season, will support The Galaxy Foundation. The Galaxy Foundation's mission is to improve the lives of youth in the Southern California area through the support and creation of educational and recreational programs. Cienfuegos is an active participant in the community via participation in player clinics, hospital appearances through the Galaxy Foundation's Make You Smile program and participation in the foundation's First Annual Day on the Links Golf Outing. A native of El Salvador, Cienfuegos is dedicated to helping the El Salvadoran community through fundraising for the Mauricio Cienfuegos Sports Complex in El Salvador and outreach endeavors for several organizations benefiting Salvadoran youth in the Southern California Area.
Steve Jolley, named the 2002 U.S. Soccer Foundation Humanitarian of the Year for his long list of charitable and community appearances, will donate the funds to his Just Jolley Foundation. After personally raising nearly $18,000 in 2001 for several important causes, he established, along with his wife Pilar, the charitable Just Jolley Foundation in July 2002. Through his own initiative with donation solicitation and personal auction efforts, he was able to raise more than $10,000 for two families-one a neighbor, the other the family of a close college friend--directly affected by the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center. Inspired by that success and determined to make a difference in his local community, Steve and Pilar launched the Just Jolley Foundation last July, and had it legally established as a non-profit organization in New Jersey. The Just Jolley Foundation supports America SCORES, a soccer and creative writing program in urban cities across the country, and the Foundation has also helped establish a similar program in the Jolleys' adopted hometown of Weehawken, NJ. They are also in the process of establishing a scholarship component to their program connected to the Jolleys' alma mater, the College of William and Mary.
The U.S. Soccer Foundation will donate money in the name of defender/midfielder Brian Kamler to the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, specifically to the Kraft Family Blood Donor Center at Dana-Farber, which is dedicated entirely to platelet donation and has recently moved to a newly renovated, more spacious facility in the Jimmy Fund Building. Platelets, the cellular clotting agents that work in conjunction with other clotting factors in the blood to control bleeding, are essential to the treatment of individuals fighting cancers such as leukemia and lymphoma, patients undergoing chemotherapy, recipients of organ transplants, and those who suffer loss of blood during surgery. Known as apheresis, a platelet donation consists of the withdrawal of blood from the arm into a cell-separation machine, where approximately 18 percent of the donor's platelets are collected. Because platelets have a shelf-life of just five days from donation to infusion into a patient, there is a continuing need for platelet donors. Donors may donate every two weeks up to a maximum of 24 times per year.
Close to defender Jimmy Conrad's heart is the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and for the past two years he has participated in the Light the Night Walk that the Society hosts, with teammate Landon Donovan joining him for the fourth annual walk in San Jose at the Plaza de Cesar Chavez in 2002. The event is a nationwide evening walk which celebrates and commemorates lives touched by cancer. A strong advocate for the cause, Conrad enjoys meeting the patients, survivors, friends, and families. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society works in the fight of all forms of blood-related cancers and offers the latest information on incidence, treatment, and outcome. The L&L Society is very active in the Silicon Valley hosting various charity/fundraising events such as Light the Night Walk, Pennies for Patients, Team in Training, and Golf Classics. The organization is also dedicated in creating awareness about the importance of identifying potential bone marrow donors.
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