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The ISL Foundation launched a solidarity campaign – Thanks For Giving – during the month of November to help feed the homeless on Thanksgiving, in Miami.
The campaign used ISL’s social media channels to promote the cause and collect donations.
With the money collected the ISL Foundation bought and distributed the meals on November 26th.
Donations reached more than $1.000 which gave us the chance to distribute over 100 meals in collaboration with a local homeless shelter, the Miami Rescue Mission.
”Thanksgiving is a time to appreciate what we have. I firmly believe giving to others can make us feel even more grateful for what we have. Happiness is only real when shared, and no matter how big or small the contribution, we can all help our communities by spreading kindness”. – said Ximena Niembro, ISL’s Marketing Director who conceived and executed the Thanks for Giving campaign.
ISL is extremely involved in its local communities, both in the US and in Spain, and it is part of ISL’s vision to help fight world hunger and bring relief to those in need.
The ISL Foundation has organized two solidarity campaigns this quarter, the first one in October to celebrate World Food Day, collecting 308 pounds of food in Charlotte. Thanks for Giving was the second campaign, and a third one will be launched in December in collaboration with ISL’s Barça Academy and Futsal schools to collect warm clothes, food and toys across the US.
Stay tuned and help us make a difference! @islagency
The ISL Foundation launched a solidarity campaign in celebration of World Food Day – October 16th.
In collaboration with ISL Futsal and Barça Academy Charlotte, ISL was able to collect and deliver 308 pounds of food to Loaves & Fishes – an NGO dedicated to feed the neighbors in need.
This donation will contribute to help Loaves & Fishes who serve over 100,000 people in need in Charlotte, North Carolina.
ISL Futsal Director, Adam Brundle, was responsible for the campaign’s success, and he reinforced the need to keep organizing this type of community support – “It’s amazing to see we have so many loyal families who always jump at the opportunity to help. These initiatives, however big or small, truly go a long way in helping us support other great organizations who are changing lives everyday. “
According to the information shared by the United Nations, there was a dramatic worsening of world hunger in 2020, much of it likely related to the fallout of COVID-19.
While the pandemic’s impact has yet to be fully mapped, the UN estimates that around a tenth of the global population – up to 811 million people – were undernourished last year. This number suggests it will take a tremendous effort for the world to honour its pledge to end hunger by 2030.
The ISL Foundation is sensitive to the global challenges that threaten the world and is fully engaged in helping to tackle world hunger.
From the offset of forming ISL as a company the main focus has always been about community and giving back. Each of us that make up the team come from different walks of life and have at some point needed a hand up to move forward, in one way or another. It is with that sentiment and the current global climate of COVID-19 that we collectively agreed that there has to be a way to get involved and be able to put our efforts into pouring hope into the lives of those who are desperately in need during this time.
Recently we rolled out a “Same Team. Same Goal.” campaign in tandem with the global call for people to stay at home in hopes of combating this pandemic and flattening the curve. We received an overwhelming and positive response to the mocked up “Home Shirt” jerseys in the graphics we laid out for social media and an article written to support the campaign. The only logical thing to do at this point was to move the concept forward into production and ultimately do good with it.
Now, there are many companies that are vying to get involved and help out in aiding those in need, but for the most part those donations are being funneled into a centralized disbursement organization and the turn around to get them to those people who are now reliant upon receiving those distributions are being lost in the shuffle or having to hold on a bit longer until they are able to receive aid.
For us, immediate disbursement of aid was non-negotiable. People are going without and the goal for us is get them help as soon as possible. ISL is going on 7 years strong now, but we have done well at remaining true to our roots. The early days began in Charlotte, NC and although we now call many parts of the world home, the Queen City will always hold close in our hearts.
Soccer is the world’s game and if you are a part of it you will come to quickly understand that it is a very small and close knit community with many arms. Soccer serves many purposes outside of being a game to watch. It unifies cities and countries. It’s colorblind. It doesn’t know or care what your socioeconomic status is. But, above all it serves. Soccer and the players that we have come to cheer on have always poured resources back into one outreach or charity that they are fortunate to be partnered with. To us, we have always had the utmost respect for our friends at Project 658.
Project 658 believe in transforming communities and pouring hope into restoring each life they are able to engage with, regardless of race, sex or religion. These are values that we believe in and only hope to try to replicate in our daily lives. 658 are a holistic ministry providing services for at-risk families in Charlotte and Nashville, moving them toward sustainability; with a key focus on the international and refugee communities. This is a non-brainer for us, as many of our team are from different parts of the globe.
The beauty of this project was two fold, in that we had the opportunity to help those in need, but additionally it gave the folks at 658 the chance to put a few of their staff back to work, even if it were for a short period of time, as they have an onsite screen printing and distribution department. Given the climate of things right now being able to uncover a company to do this project and turn it around in a timely fashion could present itself as a bit of a challenge, so we were excited to learn that this was a capability of theirs.
Beyond being an outreach ministry, 658 have diversified their facility to be host a variety of different things such as wedding receptions, to continued education classes, vocational training classes, an after school daycare and tutoring, to a fully operational restaurant style kitchen to which they have the ability to cater events on the premises, as well as feed those in need. They even have the ability to convert the banquet space into a fully capable futsal court for local youth to play on.
Without the delay the concept of #HomeFC was born. The purpose behind the jersey was a simple call to stay home, save lives in the attempt to get this pandemic behind us and to get back out on the playing field. Additionally, it gave us the opportunity to be able to reach out to our network to help those who are most in need.
With all hands on deck we ran a limited time offer jersey sale for 7 days utilizing our ISL social media channels and an email marketing campaign. Orders from around the U.S. started coming in almost immediately, which for us validated even more the type of community we have come to know and love. As quickly as it began it was over. All in all we sold over 200 jerseys and raised over $5000.00 for Project 658 and a couple other organizations affiliated with our foundation.
This number may not seem like much, but for the lives of those in need during this time it truly made an impact, even if it were for a short period. To everyone that helped support this campaign, thank you. You may never meet the folks who you help support, but we can assure you that they are equally grateful to you too.
To learn more about our foundation and organizations that we work with follow this link.
What better way to feel the Holiday Spirit than to give back to our communities, and help those in need. This was the vision when putting together the ISL Foundation Holiday Kickoff Charity Food Drive. ISL Foundation exists to improve our communities through the power of sport, and during the holidays this is even more important.
In total, the Academies and Experience Trips collected and donated over 1,000 pounds of goods to local charitable organizations. We’d like to thank all players, coaches, directors and families for helping ISL Foundation improving our communities through sport. Lastly, we thank the Salvation Army, Loaves and Fishes, the Greater Chicago Food Depository and every organization for their help and all that they do not just during the Holidays, but all year.
Soccer has always been viewed as a unifying game. It sees beyond race, religion, orientation and intellectual and developmental disabilities, so when ISL was approached to take part in the second annual Celebrity Soccer Match hosted by Hard Rock Hotel & Casino event in Miami, Florida, we jumped at the chance to be involved.
From day one of ISL being formed, putting people first and giving back to the communities we have a presence in has been the root core of our value system. We are fortunate to have the relationships and ties we do into the sporting ecosystem, which affords us opportunities each day to thrive as a company. So, getting the chance to lend a helping hand to those in our community that need it most is a two fold blessing for them and us, especially around the holiday season.
It’s in that vein that we proudly support Best Buddies, an international organization who’s services includes, but not limited to, children and adults with Down Syndrome, Autism, Fragile X, Williams Syndrome, Cerebral Palsy, Traumatic Brain Injury and other undiagnosed disabilities. They are the world’s largest organization dedicated to ending the social, physical and economic isolation of the 200 million people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). Their programs empower the unique abilities of people with IDD by helping them form meaningful friendships with their peers, securing successful jobs, live independently, improve public speaking, self-advocacy and communication skills, and feel valued by society.
Celebrities, soccer stars, models and their Buddies gathered for the ultimate Celebrity Beach Soccer Match in a unique fun-filled day of curated events that featured; 7-on-7 friendly matches, meet-n-greet, children’s clinics, soccer training fitness class, show-cases, brand activations and a whole lot more. Industry professionals, sport enthusiasts, local government, influencers as well as residents alike took part in a family-friendly event with individuals from different cultures and all over the world.
In support of the event, ISL organized and managed the Fan Zone experience during the event. Setting up experiences for participants to play, network and to make new friends. We’re proud of our involvement to make the Celebrity Soccer Match something memorable for everyone in attendance. ISL is an adaptable agency in that we offer an array of services that are customizable to the needs of each of the clients that we partner with from around the globe. It’s in that adaptability we were able to develop something unique to this special event, thinking out side of the box to support events close to home.
October 30, 2019
This month, ISL Travel Management, with the support and aid from players and families traveling from the United States, have began an initiative to help aid our environment. Every little bit can help keep our environment clean and help avoid waste. ISL understand this, and have taken steps towards doing their part during international trips.
The initiative was introduced at the beginning of October during our second ever all girls international experience trip, and continued during our Barcelona Experience Trip at the end of October. During training, games or cultural activities, ISL staff worked to emphasize and educate players on the importance of taking care of the locations they were visiting, and how every bit of help goes a long way towards helping their environment. Players and families helped clean up beaches, training facilities, and accommodations. Most importantly, as the players need to constantly rehydrate during their soccer training or games, water bottles were recycled or re-used throughout the trip.
The major hopes of our initiative is that the young players leave the trip with a sense of pride in taking care of their environment, and gain an education in the importance of being conscious about their footprint, even when they are playing hard and having fun! The initiative was so widely welcomed, that all international sports trips in the future will continue the recycling program, and help build a better future!
Recently, ISL Foundation continued its commitment to being involved in local communities in the cities we have a footprint. ISL Foundation partnered with Big Brothers Big Sister of Miami to put on a 10 week soccer training program for 20 boys and girls, ages 8-14. Once a week for 90 minutes at various fields around the city, ISL employees took time out of their work week to spend time, train and support these amazing youngsters from different parts of the world including Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala and the U.S.
Serving their community since 1958, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Miami (BBBSM) are the premier nonprofit mentoring organization in South Florida. They are the champions of hope, transformation, and social good, all the while defending the potential of children who need it the most. BBBSM strives to make Miami a safe haven where children can grow and thrive. They have developed a network of strategic partnerships with local businesses and community organizations, aligned within the vision of “together we can do big things!”
From the start, ISL’s core values of putting people first, being active within the community and having involvement in local charities has always been our way of making decisions in hopes of making positive impacts in the lives of everyone we work besides or have the good fortune of coming into contact with. It’s to that fact that all the years of selfless, philanthropic work that has collectively been done as a company crescendoed in the birth of ISL Foundation.
The mission of the Foundation is to give back to aspiring athletes and communities that are underserved. We do our utmost to give each of them the chance to experience top levels of training and competition in world class facilities across their respective cities. Our hope is that we teach valuable lifelong lessons that will influence change. We measure our success by aiming to put smiles on as many faces as we can and the more they smile, the better we are doing.
To learn more about ISL Foundation and how we are changing lives follow this link.
Last weekend, ISL Foundation had the honor of partnering with Developmental Disabilities Resources, Inc. (DDR, Inc.) in putting on a free soccer clinic for 40 plus kids and adults in the Charlotte, NC community. “Dream, Believe, Achieve” is the bedrock on which they stand and for us, their motto is everything that embodies ISL Foundation as a whole.
The special event gained local news coverage from WCCB CW, and helped build support throughout the community leading into the event.
Kim Michel, the Leader of DDR’s Dream Squad, was quoted saying of the event “The DDR Dream Squad were in complete agreement that the soccer event this past weekend was easily one of our favorite events we have ever been a part of. This event ensured that each individual had the opportunity to stand out for a different reason, for trying hard and for being able to take risks doing something they have never tried before.”
The event was supported by Barca Academy Charlotte coaches and methodologies. Kim went on to say of the staff “I can honestly speak for the entire group when I tell you how much we truly appreciate the level of professionalism, effort, kindness, and genuine sincerity the staff put into this event.”
It was a chilly morning in Matthews, NC at the Matthews Sportsplex, but spirits were high and smiles were beaming all around. The emphasis of the day, simply to have fun, forget about the cares of the world and for a few hours train and play like real professional soccer players. After a brief welcoming introduction, players were broken up into different teams under the watchful and caring eyes of official Barcelona trained coaches and staff. Players were lead through the same instructions and drills academy players are routinely put through in preparation for league play and competitions. Passing, shooting, ball control and field formations were on the docket for the morning, before a spirited scrimmage to wrap up the morning.
ISL Foundation would like to thank everyone for making this event possible, and making it a memorable day for a special group of players.
