My name is Lauren Markwith. My teammates and I play for Larry Draluck U17. I am a member of the Guatemalan National Soccer Team and I also play for Mater Dei varsity soccer team. As you all may already know, my teammates Kira Weaver, MacKenzie Curry, Miranda Baca, Sierra Crawford, Hannah Stammer, Tony Holland, Hanna Watkins, Erin McCann and I, recently took a journey to Guatemala taking with us about 100 pairs of soccer cleats, 5 teams uniforms including goalie gloves and uniforms, 30 Mater Dei t-shirts, 80 tooth brushes, 80 toothpaste, 80 flip-flops, soccer balls, 250 crayons boxes and 250 coloring books. All the items were donated to www.strike4betterfutures.org.
I want to thank my teammates for their courage, hard work, and dedication while in Guatemala. In Guatemala, we worked with 250 kids in the morning doing soccer clinics and working in the classrooms. After lunch we worked on building chicken coups. The children are in desperate need of food, clothing, and housing, but they are happy and loved us unconditionally. On our last day we were able to give them the donated items we had brought for them. It was an amazing life experience for all of us.
We were honored by Alvaro Arzu, Mayor of Guatemala City because of my affiliation with the Guatemalan WNT. Mayor Arzu is a big soccer fan and he heard about the work we were doing for the children, so he presented us each with a proclamation/certificate to thank us for our contributions to the children. It was an amazing experience to have met him and his cabinet! There was a lot of press and media covering the event which was nerve rocking, but a great experience over all.
I also want to thank my courageous teammates for taking this journey with me and making a difference to better the world...you all are my heroes!!!
I would like to personally thank those Blues families who generously donated their SC Blues soccer uniforms! Here at the Blues we are making a difference!
This is not the end of our journey, but just the beginning. If you are interested in going to Guatemala or if you would like to in the future donate your old blues soccer uniform and/or soccer cleats, we have open arms for them. Please take a moment to visit the website www.strike4betterfutures.org to see the children receiving your donated Blues uniforms and to see what other items are needed for future trips.
Sincerely,
Lolo :)