KSC Hosts Dr. MLK Day of Service at the Clubhouse
KSC welcomed over 16 volunteers to join staff to work on two service projects in The Clubhouse. The projects were organized by Executive Program Director Barbyose Noisette and Volunteer Coordinator Leslie Quan.
Over the past couple of years, Dr. MLK Day of Service celebrations at KSC involved outreach in the Community , but this year KSC turned inward. In 2022, 100 volunteers gathered to clean 7 quadrants of the neighborhood. Last year in 2023, KSC coaches and administrative staff attended an event at Eastern Penitentiary for a series of lectures inspired by A Letter from a Birmingham Jail. Across both examples, our observation of Dr. MLK Day of Service united our families and our staff.
On Monday, January 15th our community was invited inside to the clubhouse to beautify our working and lounge areas with murals and to organize our equipment room. The Clubhouse is at the epicenter of our work in the community - not solely because of its physical location but because we collaborate in the space, hold community events in the space, and it also houses resources we distribute to families through our programs.
Our equipment room houses athletic equipment and apparel partially comprised of items donated by the community. Throughout the year youth that register for our programs have access to t-shirts, protective gear, soccer balls, cleats and more through distribution days, and direct outreach. Across all of our youth programming, parents have extolled the benefits of having access to discounts for registration fees, and access to equipment at little to no cost. Our equipment room is integral to ensuring that youth in our programs can enjoy playing soccer, while practicing safety precautions.
Beyond our equipment room, our shared working and lounge spaces are sites where we reinforce the value of unifying the community with affordable and accessible soccer. We host community events in the space - including the Youth Leadership Council Anti-Gun Violence panel; Winter Family Day; During the summer our workready teens meet daily in our space for training, and collaborating with various staff to plan their service projects. Additionally, youth in a homework club that meets before practice weekly . And just last week, Brianna Banks hosted a paint and sip event for the Girls Empowerment Initiative with Coach Carly.
OST Coach Jason who was featured on 6ABC Action News for painting a mural at Casarez School led a team of volunteers in painting two murals across our work and lounge areas. He planned the mural with Executive Program Director Barbyose Noisette who has experience in painting murals. Their plan was motivated by an interest in bringing art that our youth can contribute to when they visit the clubhouse. Additionally, for the staff and program participants that utilize our space, the renderings are colorful reminders of the importance of our work from the perspectives of our growing community. During MLK Day, volunteers including Rocky and Vicky - who worked in the clubhouse for the 2022-23 academic year were able to lend their talents to laying the foundation of the murals. Overall this event not only allowed us to update the appearance of our clubhouse, but it helped our partners, staff, and community members to envision different ways of getting involved in our work.
We would like to thank all of our volunteers for supporting this effort as well as the Up2Us Sports Coaches for joining us for our special and unique observation of Dr. MLK Day of Service. If you have questions about volunteer roles or our volunteer working groups, please reach out to Volunteer Coordinator Leslie Quan.
