Knowing we had a large population of resettled refugees in our town that didn’t have the resources to attend many of the summer camps and other offerings available in our city, we worked with our local International Rescue Committee and a collegiate soccer player to host a free three-day soccer camp for about 30 resettled refugee kids. It was a huge success, and now we host a soccer camp every summer.

The first camp helped us get to know some of the kids better, and they wanted to find times to play soccer beyond the three days of camp. So, we started to play pick-up games with them regularly. We noticed that this play time was extremely valuable to them as it helped them, at least for a little while, forget all the hard things in their lives. It also helped them make connections in the community as we brought friends and neighbors to the field.

Working with a local Maker Space, we invited some of our refugee friends to use their creativity and design the exterior of a soccer ball. They came up with some fantastic designs! We used their designs to launch a soccer ball company with a unique mission–to help create more moments of joy through play for kids around the globe.