Kicking it up a notch
Young Southland soccer players step up charity efforts during pandemic
All this and a bag of chips indeed. Emely Oviedo of Chicago Heights said she was moved May 6. She was a part of a large contingent of athletes from the PepsiCo Showdown and Buddy’s Helpers organization which donated more than 130,000 food items to the Bloom Township Food Pantry, where she volunteers.
“That was my favorite because I was helping out in my own community,” she said. “I volunteer there often and it was really nice to see everyone I work with there. There were a lot of children and we gave out chips. Their faces would light up and they were excited for a bag of chips.”
At the time, the pantry had seen a 330% increase in those needed the service since the COVID-19 pandemic began.
The pandemic knocked out the massive 96-team girls soccer showcase in the spring, but soccer is just a part of the PepsiCo event. Since 2003, Mokena native Joe Trost, the founder of both the boys and girls showdowns and Buddy’s Helpers, has made it a point there would be an element of charity work done in conjunction with the soccer.
Since March, athletes, including those from the south and southwest suburbs, have showed up for a variety of causes.
They donated to the Bloom and Moraine township food pantries. They stopped by Mother McAuley to honor trainer Amanda MacNab and give her a check to go to her charity of choice. They donated to a West Side shelter that houses abused children and women. They spent a part of Easter Sunday surprising young students with bikes and scooters.
They surprised Stagg soccer player Victoria Pakos and three sisters from Park
Ridge with donations for their roles in raising money for charity. They surprised a little boy from a military family.
And that was done before June.
School may have been over, but the PepsiCo gang was just getting rolling.
On Father’s Day, a group headed to River Grove to present Guerin Prep soccer coach Roberto Cianci with a check for his favorite charity. Guerin closed its doors in the spring.
The athletes also surprised daughters of a military family with bikes, and a River North shop owner whose business was destroyed by looting with a check for $1,000. They made a surprise delivery to I Grow Chicago and honored an Arlington Heights parent.
Their latest event was July 29, when they donated $1,000 and thousands of books and adult sweatshirts to the I Grow Chicago’s Peace Campus.
That initiative was an attempt to show unity in the city and to try to stifle gun violence, which has been prevalent.
“We may have lost a quarter or two of our high school career,” Oviedo told the media that morning. “But children, family and friends are losing their lives each and every day.”
Some athletes even got a little bit of soccer in as 56 non-school-affiliated teams participated in games on July 18-19 in Schaumburg.
“While 2020 has been unique in so many ways, it’s been no different than the past for the Making A Difference On AND Off The Field campaign,” Trost said. “Just like professional athletes and teams, the student athletes and schools want to make a difference on and off the field.”
Trost said there has been a consistent, disciplined drumbeat.
“We all know that 1% of student athletes go on to play professionally, but all 100% can be game changers and leaders in the game of life,” he said.
Recently Stagg High School graduate Faith Mariner said she has learned a lot about life the past few months.
“Not having soccer, I got more involved in the charity work,” said Mariner, who will be a freshman at Millikin University. “Some of the things we did was eye-opening. There were things I didn’t know were going on. It really brought light to some topics that we were unaware of. Being able to take part in things like that was amazing. It’s insane how much PepsiCo does.”
It could get more insane. Trost said there are plans to open showdowns in other sports, including football. There are plans in August to expand the charity campaign to Milwaukee,
Minneapolis, St. Louis, Philadelphia and Dallas. He said many of these cities have former soccer players who competed in the PepsiCo Showdown and will help get things rolling in those communities.
“Each month, there will be a specific topic to focus on and just like we have in the Chicago area for years,” Trost said.
In August, they will surprise senior citizens for National Senior Citizens Day, saying they are part of society the organization is trying to protect the most.
“It’s important we also help them mentally, too, because they’ve been isolated at times during this historic stretch,” he said. “These will be cool moments of connecting generations together.”
Oviedo said she started helping others because of her closeness to her grandparents. Since February, she has worked the night shift at the Generations at Applewood rehabilitation and nursing facility in Matteson, feeding, changing and assisting patients.
She will be a student athlete at Governors State in the fall. She will be busy with school and training for a possible spring soccer season, but she said she will still have time to help others.
“I’ve always been someone who loves to help,” she said. “I have always treated the elderly as if they were my own. I like to make a difference in other people’s lives. I know what some people are going through, and I want to be the light in the dark when they are going through a tough situation.”