GERMANTOWN, Wis. — Learning to volunteer and give back is an important value that will help shape young players’ lives. 

FC Wisconsin makes sure its players learn valuable skills on and off the field. The club makes it a priority to give back. Each team, starting at around 12-years-old, hosts a donation drive once a year. An invaluable life lesson for these players. 

Coach Neil Tolson heads up FC’s Community Giving program. “We want to develop good soccer players, but we also want to develop good young men,” he said. 

Every year the team picks a different charity, from donating food or clothes to cleaning up a local highway. Coach Tolson said it’s about anything the club can do to give back. For each drive, an email is sent out to all club families. Coach Tolson said there’s never a shortage of donations. 

Sixth grader Mason Hathaway led the drive for his team last fall. They brought in over 800 items, 45 bags full of essential supplies donated to Street Angels. The outreach program focuses on people disconnected from services and living unsheltered in Milwaukee County.

Buses loaded with supplies go out three nights a week. Since the pandemic Executive Co Director Eva Welch said there’s a growing need. “In less than one year’s time we’ve seen a 54% increase in the number of people we’re connecting with our services,” Welch shared. 

Street Angels offers hot meals, bag lunches, clothing, blankets and other supplies. But Welch will tell you it’s about more than what they give out. “Those are kind of like the tools of connection,” she said. “In the long run it’s really about people realizing that there’s a whole community of people that care about them and that’s what’s making the difference.”

It’s also impacting these young players. Mason said it felt good to donate. “It teaches me to be like a good person, like to care about others, not just yourself.”