World Cup Crazy? Check Out These 6 Soccer Charities!

Soccer, or Football as it is called everywhere else in the world that is not the United States, is a global passion unlike any other. You would never call it a past time, for example, and often it is so enmeshed with the culture and people of its respective country that it resembles more of a religion than a sport.

While soccer doesn't mean quite the same thing to people in the United States (yet) as it does in South American or European countries, where it does begin to cross over for many people is when they start having kids. It's then when they come to realize the purity and excitement of the game, no, especially, when watching their five year-old swarm up the field after a black and white rolling honeycomb. It's no mistake that this game, which requires nothing but a ball and a patch of space, has stirred up so much passion and intensity.

To celebrate The World Cup, and in the spirit of community that soccer and sport have the capacity to create, we'd like to bring to your attention six charities associated with the great game of Football!

* 1GOAL

In 2000, 164 world governments came together to create the Education for All goals and 189 governments also created the United Nations Millennium Development Goals. Two of the eight goals involve ending poverty through education:

* to ensure that all boys and girls complete primary schooling by 2015 * to ensure that girls have the opportunity for education at all levels by 2015.

They promised to make sure there was enough money and that the policies were in place to make it a reality. Since then many countries have abolished school fees, spending was increased by $4 billion and an extra 40 million children are now going to school.

* Kicks For Cause

Marley Coffee founded the Kicks For Cause Foundation in order to give back to those who make Marley Coffee possible and to take responsibility for building healthy, happy communities. At Kicks For Cause, it's believed sport enriches children's lives. The Foundation aims to provide soccer fields and soccer camps to children of the coffee-producing communities around the world—beginning in Jamaica. In the summer of 2001, after the use of child labor came to the world's attention, the coffee industry leapt to evaluate its own vulnerability to this controversial issue. Even so, the International Labor Organization (ILO) estimates that there are 250 million working children, 120 million of whom work full-time. In these communities many children work for commercial farms and plantations that produce commodities exclusively for export, making up an estimated 7-12% of the work force on these plantations. Among the products that children help to harvest are: cocoa, coffee, coconuts, cotton, fruit, vegetables, jasmine, palm oil, rubber, sisal, sugar cane, tea, tobacco and vanilla. Marley Coffee believes that the proper place for a child is in the schoolroom, not the workplace.

* America SCORES

America SCORES empowers students in urban communities using soccer, writing, creative expression, and service-learning. With teamwork as the unifying value, they inspire youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities. They develop programs that use the world's most popular sport, soccer, to energize and inspire public school students. All of their programs require that children use the teamwork they learn on the soccer field to support each other as poets and authors in the classroom. The combination is unique and it works. Every day, SCORES programs are creating a bond between thousands of students and their classmates, their teachers, their schools and their communities.

* Homeless World Cup

There are one billion homeless people living in our world today. The Homeless World Cup exists to end this, so we all have a home, a basic human need. The Homeless World Cup is an annual, international football tournament, uniting teams of people who are homeless and excluded to take a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their country and change their lives forever. It has triggered and supports grass roots football projects in over 70 nations working with over 30,000 homeless and excluded people throughout the year. The first tournament took place in Graz 2003 uniting 18 national teams. 56 nations were united for Melbourne 2008, which included the first Women's Cup. They are on the road to Rio 2010 Homeless World Cup in September where 64 nations are expected to participate. The impact is consistently significant year after year with 73% of players changing their lives for the better by coming off drugs and alcohol, moving into jobs, education, homes, training, reuniting with families and even going on to become players and coaches for pro or semi-pro football teams. The Homeless World Cup supporters include UEFA, Nike, UN, Manchester United, Real Madrid, Ambassador Eric Cantona and international footballers Didier Drogba and Rio Ferdinand.

* Kicks4Kenya

Kicks4Kenya is an organization established in 2007 with the goal of getting soccer equipment to children in Kenya. By providing them with proper balls and equipment to encourage their play, these children can learn about teamwork and motivation. The sport also provides them with a temporary relief from their poverty-stricken world so that they may return with a more optimistic mindset and new enthusiasm for life. In the long run, these characteristics will help them grow as individuals and give them the confidence to overcome the obstacles they face and make great changes in their lifestyles. Thus, while a soccer ball may not seem like much of a gift, it is truly giving them the gift of the world.

* MLS W.O.R.K.S.

Launched in April 2007, MLS W.O.R.K.S. is Major League Soccer's community outreach initiative dedicated to addressing important social issues affecting young people and serves as a platform for both League and club philanthropic programs. MLS W.O.R.K.S. seeks to establish Major League Soccer as a leader for improving the lives of people through sport. MLS W.O.R.K.S. supports both national and international organizations dedicated to bettering the world we live in, including the UNICEF, the UN Foundation's Nothing But Nets campaign, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Summer Bridge Activities, The Center for Summer Learning at Johns Hopkins University, the U.S. Soccer Foundation, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, March of Dimes, America Scores, Make-A-Wish Foundation, Malaria No More, the Anti-Defamation League, Grassroots Soccer, Hope & Heroes, and many others. They are also privileged to work with renowned doctors and experts in the creation of their health and wellness initiatives.

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