Among a sea of students in the crowded hallways, something stands out: soccer balls, cleats, jerseys, shin guards, cones, and mini goals hang out of a cardboard box labeled “Key Club Soccer Without Borders Equipment Drive”.
The PHS branch of Key Club hosted a Soccer Without Borders equipment drive from January 15 to January 26. Key Club is an international organization that has different branches at schools throughout the U.S.
“[Key Club] works on broad community service projects to help improve lives, especially for people that are disadvantaged,” said Key Club member sophomore Noah Sohn.
Key Club secretary sophomore Rachel Young said that for this drive, Key Club was collecting new or lightly used soccer balls, mini goals, cones, cleats, and athletic clothing in three bins that were located in the STEAM building, 20’s building, and 30’s building.
The Soccer Without Borders equipment drive was also extended to Piedmont Middle School and Beach Elementary School, with one bin being placed on each campus.
Young said that Key Club was aiming to get at least five donations per bin, which would total up to 25 donations. At the end of the drive, Key Club collected 37 pairs of shoes and 13 soccer balls, which were donated to the Oakland Branch of Soccer Without Borders.
The club started planning this donation drive in mid-December of 2023.
“[Key Club] had a meeting with one of the directors of Soccer Without Borders and it was really inspirational and we wanted to do something to help support the organization,” Young said.
By organizing the drive, Key Club wanted to support Soccer Without Borders’ mission of helping local young immigrants integrate into their community through sports.
Key Club president junior Sabrina Olliphant said that the equipment drive would help keep Soccer Without Borders up and running since it is a non-profit that runs purely off donations.
Organizing the drive was a multi-step process.
“We had to work with ASB to figure out where to put the boxes, how to get all the posters hung up, and how to get it in the announcements and on ASB’s Instagram,” Olliphant said.
Through the process of organizing and hosting the Soccer Without Borders Equipment Drive, Key Club members were able to practice their leadership, fundraising, communication, and planning skills.
“To gather donations, you need to go into the community, and you need to just kind of know how to communicate that that’s marketing communications. And it’s all about the message: who, what, where, and why,” said Key Club advisor Jana Branisa.
Through the Soccer Without Borders equipment drive, Key Club was also able to strengthen its sense of community and companionship.
“[The Soccer Without Borders equipment drive has] been a great opportunity to help out the community but also bring Key Club together,” Olliphant said.
Key Club members believe that the experience they have gained from this equipment drive will shape the future events they host.
“I think that being able to work with a legitimate nonprofit on their behalf, as opposed to just running our own fundraiser and donating the results, is a big step in a direction where we can do more stuff and promote more involvement,” Sohn said.
