On June 2nd during halftime, one of star athletes Wren accepted an award and Jersey at the PTCF grantee ceremony on-field at the Timbers match. Through the Portland Timbers Community Fund, ASNW’s power soccer program was selected as one out of eight educational, environmental and community-focused nonprofit organizations in the greater-Portland area that received a portion of $45,000 in grants. The recipients were selected by the Portland Timbers Community Fund Advisory Board, consisting of partners Adidas, Alaska Airlines and Providence Health & Services.
We will using these funds to help us with renting accessible playing surfaces, equipment, USPSA membership fees and traveling expenses. We currently use temporary plastic guards on each athlete’s power wheelchair to control the ball. These are temporary, but don’t hold up to long term abuse of power soccer. The funds will be used to cover the cost manufacturing and installing a protective metal guards, allowing the athletes to have better control of the soccer ball and significantly increasing the protection of their wheelchair and lower extremities.
