Have a new org. called Boots for Youths.
collecting used boots and taking donations towards giving equipment to those who may not need it.
Coops..
PM me ya email addy and i'll link ya with the person i know who heavily involved with that programme
Got boots?
By Aba A. Luke (T&T Guardian)August 15, 2009A new initiative geared at bringing more smiles, more cohesion and a sense of youthful vibrance to communities around the country, has been launched. It’s called Boots for the Youths and has kicked off to a great start. A couple young men from Glencoe, in the Western end of Trinidad have come up with a neat idea that doesn’t involve the government, an NGO or even academics. It’s all about football boots, or “tugs” as we say in T&T, and word on the street is that these guys have the answer to harmonising the communities from Carenage to Laventille, Maloney to Guayaguayare.
Football can mendFootball can bring warring factions together like nothing else can, says 27-year-old David Stone, managing director of the wine bar MoreVino. With that in mind, and a desire to give back after having achieved quite a lot in their young lives, he and his 28-year-old friend, Christian Nathaniel, a mechanical engineer, have come up with Boots for the Youths. The campaign will furnish football boots to deserving adolescents. By reaching out to well-to-do soccer lovers who may have boots they no longer use beneath their beds or in storage, the pair is bent on acquiring a ton load of boots for distribution. They have placed newspaper ads and created a Facebook page for the initiative.
They will start in Carenage, Glencoe, Diego Martin and environs in the West—close to their hometowns—moving towards Port-of-Spain, and then the North, East and South. The duo have teamed up with Sports & Games to offer those who want to be a part of the initiative a ten per cent discount on all new soccer boots when they drop off their old ones. The store will also double as a drop off spot, as will MoreVino on Ariapita Avenue.
Encouraged by a legendThe pair explained that the initiative will target football camps where youths from deprived households will be encouraged to continue with the sport. Will this noble idea stand a chance? According to Stone, it is hoped that the initiative will eventually go countrywide. “Russel Latapy came to More Vino on the Saturday night before the match against Honduras and we spoke about the idea,” said Stone. “He really liked it and encouraged us to go ahead with it. Latas even said that he wanted to start up something like it, to give back to the young people who look up to him.”
The money side of thingsThe initiative also welcomes monetary donations, which will be used for purchasing new boots for distribution to those most deserving. Stone and Nathaniel have not been to any government ministry for financial assistance, and say they have no intention of doing so. “We may at some point request the involvement of corporate Trinidad, but for now we’re going it alone, with the belief that there are a lot of people who simply want to help out there.”
To be a part of Boots for the Youths, drop off your ageing tugs at any Sports & Games outlet or MoreVino on Ariapita Avenue, Woodbrook.
You can also e-mail david@morevino.com for more information
