An Evanston high schooler has launched a $5,000 online fundraising campaign to create cheap, high-quality soccer balls for children.

Evanston Township High School senior Olivia Post is asking for donations to support her oNe Soccer Ball foundation, which aims to provide both local and foreign youth with affordable soccer balls.

The organization, which she started two years ago, runs under the slogan, “Buy oNe, Give oNe.” For each ball that is bought by a funder, one is donated to someone in need. Post said with the money made, she hopes to produce 300 soccer balls, which are made inexpensively through a company in Pakistan at NCAA-level quality. 

As of Monday night, Post’s Kickstarter campaign was about $500 short of its fundraising goal, which must be reached by Friday morning.

Post came up with the idea for the fundraiser after visiting Guatemala for five weeks during the summer and encountering children who played soccer with shabby equipment and balls.

“The kids would play on dirt, and it was not a really nice field at all,” she said. “I wanted to do something for them, so I spent my whole junior year of high school collecting over 600 pieces of soccer equipment and raising over $1,000.”

Upon her return, Post realized that although she had already helped out a single community, she could reach even more people and expand her work. The primary need amongst the children she encountered were soccer balls, so she decided to focus her efforts on those, she said.

While on her summer trip, Post befriended Sharon Smart, one of the founders of nonprofit organization Mayan Families that aims to develop impoverished parts of Guatemala through education and community programming. Smart now acts as Post’s mentor, as well as the person who she’ll use to help ship out soccer balls to youth in Guatemala.

Post is also working to share soccer balls with children in Haiti, as well as with local teams and clubs in the Midwest, including the local group Team Evanston. 

Soccer has been an integral part of Post’s life since she started at age 5, she said. She plans to continue her efforts when she attends Nova Southeastern University in Florida, where she has recently committed to play soccer after high school.

Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @paigeleskin