Hi people I care about!

I have a goal to raise $5,000 to support one of the women I work alongside almost every day at Soccer Without Borders. While we can't wait to formally hire her, right now she remains a volunteer coach as her work permit has been held up in the court system for close to 5 years. Recently, we learned that this delay was caused by a predatory lawyer. He took advantage of her and her family's good faith and their fear and has left her specifically in a devastating situation. After investing so much patience, hope, and money over 5 long years of waiting, Ney has to start the process over.

Ney does not have a work permit, but has chosen to pour her time, her love, and her energy into the girls who play at Soccer Without Borders. Like most of you know now, I've worked at SWB for the last 7 years. The program builds community for and with youth refugees who have recently arrived to Oakland in search for a safer, better life. Players come from over 30 countries and speak more than 20 languages in our Oakland programs alone. I feel this organization does work that fundamentally shifts communities and creates spaces for girls to develop their passions, their confidence, and a love for each other and themselves. I have worked with many amazing, incredible women in my time at SWB and truly count Ney as one of my biggest inspirations.

Ney immigrated to the USA in 2015 from El Salvador due to gang violence in her home town. She joined SWB as a high schooler before graduating Oakland International High school in 2018. Since then she has worked tirelessly to support her sisters, brothers, mom and dad through whatever channels she can. In spite of working long hours in physically demanding jobs, Ney consistently found time to show up for the teenage girls in our high school programs, helped coach two different teams at practices every week, managed teams as a head coach in our all-female led soccer league every Saturday, and mentored girls through the emotionally difficult situation of being forced to leave their old home to adjust to a new one. She saw they needed someone slightly older who understood what they were going through, and she responded with compassion and strength as her full self.

Ney does understand what they are going through. She knows the pain, the grit, and the intelligence it takes to overcome such tall barriers. She was a player for SWB and now is serving younger girls through the program because she knows how necessary and powerful a good role model is. She is that powerful role model. And right now, especially with this recent news about a bad man who wielded his power as a lawyer in truly irresponsible and harmful ways, she's really going through a hard time. I know Ney to her core and know she would never ask for this sort of help. I also know people who may want to help her, and I'm trying to see if there's something my personal community can do.

If any part of her story or the work SWB does with newcomer refugee girls through soccer connects with you and your values, please consider giving to this campaign. I know it's holiday season and people are already spending money on loved ones, so I am grateful for whatever comes from this.

I truly hope you connect deeply with things you care about in the New Year. Thank you for being part of the community who holds me!

With love,

Maddy