Students from across campus participated in a soccer tournament last weekend to benefit Mission Lazarus. The event was conducted as an attempt to help families in poverty-ravaged Honduras, where soccer is a part of the children’s culture.
“Soccer is what kids love in Honduras,” said Sarah Boleslawski, senior communications major from Spring.
Over spring break, 21 ACU students will travel to Honduras to lend a hand to the many families living there. The students have had to raise their own money to go on the mission trip, and money they receive for the tournament help them with their project.
The country recently experienced 96 days of flooding, damaging many of the families’ homes. Students participating in Mission Lazarus will be rebuilding the destroyed homes. The funds will help those on the trip provide supplies such as building materials, food, clothes and medicine for the refugees.
“It was a really good experience and it was for a good cause,” Boleslawski said. “Those who participated seemed to really enjoy it.”
With more than 60 people playing in the tournament, at least $400 was raised. Individuals contributing to the event paid $7 and each team donated a soccer ball.
The tournament started at 5 p.m. Friday and the final game ended Saturday around 11 a.m. Men’s social club Gamma Sigma Phi won the men’s tournament. The women’s social club GATA captured the women’s title.
“You get a really good feel of how the community is in Honduras with the soccer tournament,” said Shayla Herndon, junior English major from Troy. “The kids play soccer every day and they don’t have the best equipment. By sending soccer balls it will be a huge blessing to the kids and to the community.”
Herndon, who has travelled to Honduras with Mission Lazarus, hopes the tournament becomes an tradition, allowing ACU students to help those in need in a practical and fun way.
“I hope they continue to do the soccer tournament in the future,” Herndon said.
More information about Mission Lazarus can be found online at www.missionlazarus.org.
