The Greater Binghamton Sports Complex, Molina Care and iHeartRadio have teamed up to create a program called Support Our Sports (SOS).
SOS is raising money for our non-for-profit Youth Organization, Greater Binghamton Soccer Association, which will sponsor a number of aspiring underserved children in our local community throughout Broome County in SPORTS at the Greater Binghamton Sports Complex.
Click on this GoFundMe link to donate: HERE
In an era of tight funding, school districts across the country are cutting their athletic budgets. Many schools are implementing athletic participation fees to cover the costs of school sports. Those fees have pushed many kids in lower income families to the sidelines.
It is no surprise that the benefits of sports extend beyond being physical. Sports directly impact a child's sense of responsibility, teamwork skills, routine, social interactions, confidence, sense of achievement... and the list goes on.
Sports help keep our youth out of trouble. Juvenile crime rates are consistently reduced in neighborhoods where sports-based youth development programs are improving the leadership, teamwork and self-governance skills of at-risk teens.
There is an estimated number of 190,000 people residing in Broome County. 17% of the population for whom poverty status is determined in Broome County live below the poverty line, a number that is higher than the national average of 13.1 %. With this program “Support Our Sports”, Molina Cares would be helping to support and address the social determinants of health, such as: racial injustice, social-economic disparities and summer programming health and wellness.
Our goal is to create the opportunity in Pay to Play sports programs for children who would not ordinarily be capable of participating. The more money we raise, the more lives of children we are able to impact in our direct community.
As long as we are able to, we intend to develop, grow and improve this program for generations to come.