Truly Grassroots

This morning I watched soccer players and their parents pack suitcases full of soccer gear and load them onto a trailer and a bus. A collection of full sets of uniforms that other wise would have been thrown away. There were soccer shoes small enough for a four year old, and large enough for a teenager. There were soccer balls well past their prime by American scholastic standards, and well superior to anything the South African children who will ultimately use it has ever kicked.

The gear was packed into suitcases, travel bags, and then onto a bus, and the back of a pickup, and into a trailer hitched to that pickup. With approximately $250,000 USD towards the Christopher T. Campbell already raised, a welcome surprise arrived for the departing team. Kelly Horn, an F&M student who quietly leads campus tours for prospective students, arrived with an envelope full of loose change, singles, and whatever else her classmates could spare. All of the change added up to approximately $1,000.00 more for the effort.

At 5:30 p.m., the Diplomats’ delegation of 53 departs Dulles. 16 hours of flying, a four-hour layover, and four more hours of flying lies ahead of them. While it isn’t the typical spring break glorified in 80’s movies, you’d be hard-pressed to find a spring break more glorious.