Last month, the Foundation took a trip to the Passback warehouse in Hillsborough, North Carolina, to send out equipment shipments as part of the Passback program! After 2 days of tough but rewarding work, we want to share with you the inner workings of Passback and how we manage to impact thousands of children per year.
The Passback program is the Foundation’s soccer equipment redistribution program. Through Passback, we partner with our friend, Soccer.com, to supply youth organizations lacking usable soccer equipment with cleats, balls and other great gear for their teams and programs.
In preparation for one of our large shipments, I made the trek with Shaina Ross, one of our Programs Coordinators, to the Passback warehouse to learn more about the process and help redistribute thousands of pieces of equipment across the country.
Upon arrival, the amount of donated equipment facing us was staggering. Between the generosity of all of our Official Passback Collectors, and the tireless work of Soccer.com, we were overwhelmed with the inventory available to give to those in need. We started separating all the equipment by type and by size. Here’s a look at a fraction of the cleats and jerseys we received.
After unpacking, it was time to go “shopping!” Here is Shaina and some of the great staff at Soccer.com putting together Passback shipments based on the requests we received.
Each order is assembled meticulously- we do our best to provide each organization with the equipment they’ve requested. Because of the generosity of our collectors and donors, we were able to outfit over 40 organizations with soccer equipment through this round of shipments!
Once all of the orders have been boxed, the shipments are labeled and prepped for distribution.
Overall, the trip was both illuminating and inspiring. I can’t wait to get back down there this spring and hopefully see even more equipment donated in 2014!
