H-ton Boys’ Soccer Provides Balls for Ethiopian Kids
While they know they are well off here, with plenty of good fields and first rate equipment, Huntington High School boys’ soccer players are also sophisticated enough to know it’s not like this everywhere in the world. The Blue Devils recently raised hundreds of dollars to ship soccer balls to a poverty stricken area of Ethiopia in Africa.
Huntington boys’ soccer coach John Pagano, his assistant Jason Suarez and the state ranked Blue Devils teamed up with retired Huntington School District principal Helen Boxwill, who serves as executive director of h2 Empower, a non-profit organization “dedicated to improving lives in Africa through education and sustainable development,” according to the group’s website.
According to its website, h2 Empower empowers people by:
• Providing access to knowledge and improving literacy skills
• Supplying books and technology, classrooms and water
• Improving girls education and literacy
• Training teachers and community members
• Connecting people and organizations with the purpose of enriching lives
• Working with communities to develop sustainable solutions to community problems
Joseph Leavy, the Huntington School District’s chairman of humanities, 7-12, helped coordinate the donation. Ms. Boxwill forwarded a video clip that allowed the Blue Devil coaches and players to see schoolchildren in Ethiopia kicking around a real soccer ball built to last and having fun doing it. More balls have been delivered since then.
The Blue Devils raised nearly $500 for the initiative. The balls are sure to provide countless hours of enjoyment to the school kids. “They are indestructible,” said Pagano about the balls.
“h2 Empower aspires to empower the lives we touch through supporting access to high quality education for all, helping communities develop sustainable improvement in quality of life and increasing connectivity to the global community so that all individuals can reach their highest potential for their families and our greater society,” according to the organization.
Visit http://www.h2empower.com for more information about h2 Empower.