Project 1: Austin Police Department
Have a Ball was started with the idea of giving kids who have witnessed or been a victim of a crime in Austin, TX a soccer ball. This is an on-going project and is the main point of distribution. I am on the streets as a victim services counselor having daily contact with kids that are hurting and the soccer ball is a perfect avenue to start their healing. This is ground zero for Have a Ball. It’s where the concept started and has been greatly supported by the Department and community at large. My donations at first came from friends, family, a wonderful organization called Little Feet and a company called Radiant RFID who made a substantial donation of soccer balls during the Bastrop Wildfires. Donations began to grow exponentially as officers would see the excitement and wonderful response that a kid would have when getting the soccer ball. Now a large portion of my donations come from police officers and dispatchers within the department. Last year Awesome Austin awarded me a $1,000 grant that allowed me to purchase 75 soccer balls and assisted me in being able to supply other crisis counselors working in the Victim Services Unit with soccer balls for their cars. As they passed out a soccer ball to a child on-scene they began to experience just how big of an impact a soccer ball could have on a child in crisis.
Project 2: California Wildfires Relief
The growing inventory of soccer balls from Project 1 has allowed me to also reach out to kids affected by natural disasters. Wildfires in California have destroyed over 600 homes in the Valley area. I am collecting soccer balls to send to the shelters that are housing families that were displaced.
Project 3: Expansion to Other Service Units
I am trying to expand our reach beyond just the Austin Police Department into other police departments across Texas. In 2016 I will start traveling to other police departments within Texas to talk about Have A Ball with officers and provide them with donated soccer balls to give out on calls they respond to in their communities. My hope is that other police departments will begin to give out soccer balls and change the lives of the children within their communities.