Another Steven Wells gem - "The Point Breeze-based Anderson Monarchs are the Bad News Bears of girls’ soccer. And they routinely beat the pants off their well-heeled suburban rivals."
I sent an email asking if they were registered with the United Way - then we could partner with them to drive donations during the Campaign for 2008. Field cleanup. Finding corporate donors. Anything. This would be better than anything we've done to date. This is making a difference for champions who need a champion.
Sounds good... Maybe see if we can get Davey to get some equipment donated from SP for a write-off. If we have that article, that's all we need to raise $$$ & awareness. I'm in.
I'm sure there'll be a wave of support right away now that the article just came out...we'd have to be there a year from now when that dries up. Most supporters' clubs have a charity, right?
Washington said Franklin was: [SIZE=-1] "Venerated for benevolence, admired for talent, esteemed for patriotism, beloved for philanthropy"[/SIZE]
THAT should be included in the SoB charter. Well played, Bolts. I think Philanthropy should be part of what we do during the season & off-season.
I'm thinking the initial wave of short-lived support for them is about up by now...I think it'd be a good time to maybe contact them and see if there's any way that we can help.
That's the part I'm having trouble with...once we get a team and we have a stadium presence we can gather donations and such. Maybe just have a few people go down every week to help clean the fields? Though most of us don't have the right epidural tone for that neighborhood, I'm guessing we've got a few people with balls. Maybe there's someone in MLS that we can get in touch with? I know they've got urban initiatives, maybe they can help point us in the right direction as to what we can do right now. Did we ever hear back from them after the magnificent job we did at Futbolito? I imagine we've got brownie points with a few people at the league office.
I'm really excited about working to support the Monarchs. Bryan, did you get a response to your United Way question? Letters to city council or department of recreation regarding funding would be good. ebradlee10, did you or anybody talk to soccer post? What about other stores to ask for equipment donations? Maybe we can help them work to get grants from the US Soccer Foundation and others. I do see that their coach is involved with the Starfinder Foundation in Philly and they've received a US Youth Soccer grant, so he may already have all the grant connections he needs. Does anybody know anything about Soccer in the Streets in Philly? Apparently, they have a branch here. At the very least, we should put a plea and link on our website for people to donate via paypal. Then we pass it along in chunks to the Monarchs. In the long run, we should establish a Sons of Ben Foundation so we can accept tax-deductible donations that we then redistribute to charities. Actually, if we get our own 501(c)3 status, we can accept tax-deductible donations for ourselves and also to redistribute to others.
I just found letter from Coach Stewart on this blog with people trying to organize a fundraiser for the Monarchs. I'm willing to call him to get a better feeling for their needs and ways to help without committing to anything yet. Is that ok with y'all? Coach Stewart's letter: Steven Wells forwarded your message to me this morning. I'd be happy to speak with you about supporting the Anderson Monarchs Girls Soccer Club in whatever way you can. My number is 215-519-9227. For now contributions/checks have to be made to the the Philadelphia Youth Organization ("PYO") with a note that the donation is for the Anderson Monarchs Girls Soccer Program. (The address is below) I am vice president of PYO which is a Pennsylvania non profit with 501c3 tax deductible status from the IRS. I have spoken with the president of PYO who assures me that any donations for the girls soccer program will be used for that purpose. We recently started our own nonprofit corporation called Soccer Sisters, Inc. but our IRS application is not yet approved. By the fall, we should have this in place to better support the girls soccer program. Walter Stewart Philadelphia Youth Organization Anderson Monarchs Girls Soccer Club Soccer Sisters Inc. 6232 Ridge Ave. Philadelphia, PA 19128
I say go for it. To further what was written above, maybe a couple of players from the team could do a clinic with the Monarchs? Perhaps an annual or bi-annual thing. Good for the team & good for the city. I haven't spoken to the Soccer Post, but OKTerriffic works there. Perhaps it would be good to see what their needs are before proceeding on this front. In terms of capital, could we use the Charter Member fund as a matching grant, up to, say, $250, for all SoBs who contribute? This gesture would underly the importance of the cause to the members who don't while away their time on these boards. Including the link to the story in a solicitation letter is a must.
I'd wait until we have a solid plan before contacting them, I want to sound as professional and serious about this as possible.
Didn't see any mention of this in the threads, nbc10 ran the story about a week ago, here's a link to the feature w/video: http://www.nbc10.com/news/13766466/detail.html
Good catch...I saw the tease for the story that night, but did not watch the story itself...but I figured we may as well hold off a little longer because of it. They're probably in their summer break ATM anyway.
In an interesting twist, the Monarchs in the same division as a team from the club I started. They play November 10th against the WUFC Jags down here.
I'm the founder/coacof the club discussed in this thread. You don't have to worry about looking professsional. We could use any support that is offerred. Letters to City Council were suggested which is a good idea but you might want to coordinate the pitch with us. Equipment is always welcome. Committed volunteer coaches are needed all year. Some of us have taken about three weeks off but even then weve been coaching and transporting players at camps at Kutztown U and USTC in Downingtown. Our biggest costs now are transportation related: Van, insurance, fuel and maintenance. Next is uniforms. All staff are volunteers. Your thread suggested there might have been a wave of support. While I did receive some contributions there have been less than ten. Our first home games for the fall are 9/9 at 3:00 and 4:15, at 24th and Jackson if anyone wants to cheer us on. Comcast Sportsnet, NBC10 and Steven Wells might come. Maybe there can be some synergy. All contributions would welcome. They could be sent to Soccer Sisters Inc, 6232 Ridge Avenue, Phila. PA 19128. My phone number is 215-519-9227 and my emails are walterstewart159@msn.com and soccersistersinc@gmail.com
Welcome Walter...it was nice meeting you at Futbolito. We will see what we can do to assist your very worthy cause. And see what we can do about getting a group together to cheer you on. I will be coaching that day, but my U13 team plays yours either before or after my U14 team plays on the same field (games @ Kirkwood) in November and I will certainly be there then. Bryan
If anyone has ideas to raise funds for the Soccer Sisters please let me know. The SoB board is currently discussing 2 different ideas. We would like to make this a concerted effort and partnership and would like to channel all Philadelphia fans through the Sons of Ben effort, maximizing impact and deliverable dollars.