Washington, D.C. - United for D.C, the charitable arm of D.C. United, is pleased to report another successful year of their Kicks for Kids program. The program, which started in 2001, provides free-of-charge tickets to regular season D.C. United home matches and free meal vouchers to area non-profit organizations and other community-based groups that serve at-risk, disadvantaged or inner-city children. Thanks to the generous donations from their sponsors, Kicks For Kids was able to give away 5,700 tickets to be distributed among disadvantage kids. Receiving requests for over 26,000 tickets this year, the program was able to provide tickets for over 150 different organizations.
"This program continues to be a great success story," said United for D.C. President of the Board Stephen Zack. "Being able to share the excitement of a professional sporting event with disadvantaged youth is a tremendous thrill for us. We look forward to the growth of this program and other foundation initiatives."</p>
In addition to providing game access, Kicks for Kids also hosted two special events of their own this season. On June 3, the program held a United Soccer Club Graduation night, where fifty kids and coaches from United Soccer Club attended the game on Kicks for Kids tickets and received a medal recognizing their participation in the first season of United Soccer Club. The program also hosted United for D.C. Day on August 19, inviting over 200 kids from United from D.C.'s signature programs (United Reads, United Community Grants, and United Soccer Clubs) to attend D.C. United's home game against Colorado on Kicks for Kids Tickets.
Various civic-minded corporations and foundations have donated dollars to support Kicks for Kids along various sponsor levels. The Colburn Family Foundation are once again a World Cup-level supporter of Kicks for Kids; Anne Heyd is a Championship level partner; GEICO and Jones Day are Black-and-Red partners; and adidas, Brotman Winter Fried, Cox Communications, CSC, Total Settlement Solutions LLC, Miller & Long and The Screaming Eagles all support Kicks for Kids at the Supporters level.
United for D.C. thanks all the sponsors involved for helping make Kicks for Kids a success in 2006, and look forward to another great season in 2007. For more information about the Kicks for Kids program, please contact Sara Rabe at srabe@dcunited.com, or by phone at (202) 587-5434.
