RAGE Leadership

Hi, my name is Tiana Cello and I play for the U-12 Orange RAGE team. For my leadership project I have decided to raise money for my local animal shelter. Instantly, that was my choice because I have a huge love for all types of animals but during the planning of my project I was told of some terrible news. My family member found out she has a rare type of cancer. So, I had decided to split the money between my family member and the animal shelter. I raised the money by bagging up dog treats into bags tied with pink ribbon. Then my parents took me to the dog park, sporting events such as the NorCal State Cup and a local fair to fundraise. Some of my family members donated money too.

My goal was to sell more than 200 bags by the end of the year. Success!! I then took the money I raised to the Manteca Animal Shelter, giving a $100 donation to the manager, and the rest was deposited to my family member’s account @ https://www.gofundme.com/da78876k. Together fundraising over two hundred dollars and reaching my goal! This program/project has motivated me to get out and help. It made me feel so happy after turning in the donations to both my family member and the shelter. I was inspired by all of the RAGE Leadership projects. Now I hope mine will inspire you!

This Rage Leadership project was organized by Kenna Asmussen and Lauren Reeves. For our project, we decided to raise money and awareness for Alzheimers patients. We chose to focus our leadership project on Alzheimers because both of us have had family members or friends who have suffered from Alzheimers. We used the money we raised to make blankets to give to patients of the Sunol Creek Memory Care facility in Pleasanton. First, we called the facility to see how many residents they currently have. The facility currently has over 40 residents, so we decided to make a blanket for each resident, to make sure everyone felt cared for and included. Knowing we had to make a lot of blankets, we turned our effort into a team bonding event and invited teammates to help make blankets. Making the blankets with our team was great because we had time with friends and their efforts helped give to a good cause. Delivering the blankets was such a rewarding experience because all the patients faces lit up when we gave them the blankets. Handing the blankets individually to each patient made the experience even more meaningful. We hope these blankets will help the people feel loved and cared for. Making the blankets was very fun and knowing that we were making them for a good cause made the whole experience even better.

Hello! My name is Faith Johnson and I am on the Rage U12 Orange team. For my community service project, I organized a run to raise money for the Lymphoma Research Foundation called, “Laps For Lymphoma!” I used this idea for my project because my grandma passed away from Hodgkin’s Lymphoma recently and I thought that it would be great to do a run in honor of her. I also love to run and it was a great chance to bring the community together for a good cause.

How the run worked was anybody who wanted to participate came to a track and we ran or walked as many laps as we could in an hour. They donated either by pledging an amount of money per lap or giving a flat donation. The run was a huge success and we exceeded my goal of $1,500 that I was hoping to raise! I got 32 donations and the grand total that I collected was… $1,685! It felt so awesome when I totaled up the checks and found out how much I had raised!

Throughout the process, this run has gained lots of meaning for me. When I first decided to organize the run, my grandma was fighting Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. About a week before the run was about to happen, she sadly passed away. A huge part of me was gone, but another part of me was encouraged and inspired to raise lots of money so that nobody else would have to fight the horrible disease. Each check that I received in the mail brought me so much joy and made me remember that I was working for such an important cause. I’m so honored to have been able to have “Laps For Lymphoma” and I hope that I will be able to do it again next year!

Our team is the U11 Grey team. Our names are Ella Gervasoni, Lauren Reilly, Molly Smith, and Olivia Martin.  For our service project we volunteered at the Parkview Senior Center.  We brought them cookies, read to them, painted their nails, and plan to make crafts with them in the future.

At first, we were a little nervous about how they might act towards us.  But after we met them we realized they were very kind and happy to have us there.  They asked us about ourselves and thought we were good readers.  We read picture books to them and they told us that we had “good language” and they liked the books that we chose.

 One woman named Gale had family that lived locally but when we asked about them and if they visited she said, “No, they don’t”.  She was very happy to have young visitors and it made us feel good that we were able to brighten their day just by visiting them and talking to them.

We also met a lady named Manuela who came from Mexico by herself when she was younger.  She never married and hasn’t seen any of her family since she moved to California.

We enjoyed being able to work with the seniors and make them happy. We didn’t get to visit as often as we’d like to but we plan to go visit again soon.  We can’t wait to go again!

Reese Lombardi U12 Orange
Sammie O’Brien U12 Orange

For our RAGE community service project we got together and made 20 tie blankets to give to the kids at Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital. We bought the material and made all the blankets to give to the kids. We decided to do this so we can put a smile on the kids faces. It is not fun to be in a hospital so if you give them a little present I could make their day. It is the little things that matter in life. The blankets we made will be delivered by a nurse that we know, who works with the children!

This leadership project was done by Taylor Metz and Allie Defazio. For our project we decided to raise money to donate to The American Brain Tumor Association. We chose to donate to this cause because we can relate to it. Our former assistant coach, Ashley Cingly, passed away from a brain tumor about 2 years ago. When we found out we had to do a community service project, this was the first thing that came to mind.

Ashley was only our soccer coach for a short time before she passed, but she left a huge impact on my team. She taught us to play everyday like it could be your last. Because it very well could be. It was really fun doing this project, because I knew we were raising money for a great cause. Thousands and thousands of people suffer from brain tumors so we were happy knowing we could be a part of donating to the American Brain Tumor Association.

Coming up with an idea to raise money and awareness for brain tumors was not easy. Taylor and I had several ideas but none were working out the way we wanted it to. After giving this project a lot of thought we had come up with the idea of doing a Raffle.We charged one dollar for one raffle ticket and asked them to write there name, phone number, and the basket number they wanted .We set up at the farmers market in Downtown Pleasanton, we thought this would be a smart place cause tons of people go there every Saturday. We set up a little booth with posters and 3 baskets. Everytime a person would come by we would chant are little logo we had come up with “come on over, great prizes and great cause.” We attracted tons of family’s! Some would ask why are we standing in the freezing cold doing this and we would tell them our story and how its good to raise awareness and the people were only more touched. In all Taylor and I had raised 161 dollars in just 2 hours we are so grateful to be surrounded by such loving people .

Taylor and I may have not known Ashley as well as others but her inspirational story has made us thrive to become better people. Speaking of Ashley to others made Taylor and I ponder about how thankful we our for to have the lives that we have. A elderly women had stopped by our table and stood there we had said the raffle is over but if you want to donate you can she just stood there for a sec and told us about how she had just found a brain tumor on Christmas Eve. Taylor and i were shocked to hear about this and talked to the women for a little and told her how you can only hope for the best we gave her hugs and she had carried on with her walk downtown. From that moment on Taylor’s life and mine had changed just a little, because it showed us that how people around you can be going through the same thing as you and you may not even know. Doing this project and raising this awareness made not only Taylor and I but those around us open there eyes.

My name is Kelly Fietz and I am on the RAGE U11 Grey Team. As part of the RAGE Leadership Program I chose to do my Community Service Project for the Dublin East Bay SPCA (Society For The Prevention Of Cruelty To Animals) because of my love for animals.

I decided to first start my project by visiting Petco and PetSmart, in Dublin, and asking them for donations. Both Managers were very generous and donated new items, that included toys and food, which I could take to the East Bay SPCA. I also submitted an online request to Petfood Express for donations but it can take up to 60 days to hear back.

I then contacted the Dublin East Bay SPCA Education Department, through an online form, and received an email back from the Humane Education Manager that for my Community Service Project I could make cat toys and dog treats.  This was a lot of fun. I used fleece and catnip to make the cat toys and cut up a cardboard box to make the cat scratcher. The dog biscuits were easy and fun to bake also.  I then made an appointment with the Education Director to bring in the donated items and the stuff Imade, to the Dublin location, and go on a tour of the facility. The staff was very friendly and let me go in several rooms where the cats live and give them the toys I made for them. I also got to see the dog areas and give a couple dogs a toy that was donated by the pet stores.

For the last part of my project I sent an email to family, friends, and parents of my 5th grade classmates asking them to donate used items like towels, sheets, and collars for the Dublin East Bay SPCA. I setup a box in my classroom at school for the donations and I got a great response. I then took another trip to Dublin to donate everything I had received.

I plan to continue to take in items that the SPCA needs and I also want to participate in some of their programs so I can learn more about caring for cats and dogs and also play and care for them while they are waiting for a home. This facility had the cutest cats and dogs and reminded me of an animal hotel. It made me feel good that they are taken such good care of by the staff.

My name is Sydney Walsh and I play for the U12 Orange team. For my community service project, my family and I helped the organization Turning Wheels for Kids make bikes for underprivileged kids for Christmas. Turning Wheels for Kids provides children with brand new bikes to encourage life long habits of exercise and outdoor activity.

My family and I went to the Pleasanton Fairgrounds, where we would build the bikes. The goal was to make 750 bikes. My mom and I were paired with an adult I didn’t know.  Luckily, he was an expert on bike building so we had a good partner.  We had to put the bike together, pump up the tires, and then roll it over to the Quality Control center.  Quality Control checks the bikes to make sure that they are perfect for the kids. The bikes were then loaded onto trucks were they were driven to a warehouse. Then local charities will pick them up and give them to kids in need. My group made 20 bikes out of the 750 bikes that entire group made.

Spending time on my project showed me that giving my time to help others is really important and that I made at least 20 kids really happy. It was fun to meet new people as we worked together. I learned how to communicate with people I had just met and work together to achieve the goal of 750 bikes. I had a lot of fun and I can only imagine the kids smiling faces on Christmas Day.

My name is Evette Allari, and I am on the Rage U11 Orange team. When I found out I had to do a community service project, I knew exactly what to do. I wanted to do a book drive because I love to read.

For my first step, I had to find a local organization that could use children books. I contacted the owner of Towne Center Books, our local bookstore. I told her I was planning a book drive, and I was looking for a local organization that would need books. She said that the “Booklegger” volunteer group at the Pleasanton Library might be collecting books for a school in Stockton. I emailed the “Booklegger” coordinator, Chris Spitzel, and she was able to provide me with the Stockton contact person, Jeff Keller, who is director of educational services at the Stockton Unified School District. After Chris Spitzel gave me his contact information, I sent him an email asking if he wanted books. He said he was very interested and appreciated my help and support.

            I made a flyer and told my class, Ms. Sweeney’s fifth grade class at Valley View Elementary School, I was doing a book drive, so they could bring books to class. I then told my team that they could bring books to practice for kids in Stockton. Together, my class and team brought in 564 books. I was so excited!

My last step was to bring the books to Jeff Keller. When I brought the books to him, he was very appreciative of the work I put in to getting the books. He told me it was great that I brought the books because the children really needed it. The only books that the kids had were not at the right reading level, so they tended to not read every day. Jeff Keller was a lot of help because he was in touch with me constantly, and he helped me find a way to get the books to the kids.

    I was so happy that the kids could now have more books. The owner of Towne Center Books, Chris Spitzel, and Jeff Keller all helped to make it happen. Now the children can read new books!

The project made me learn more about communication, organization, responsibility, and how much others were willing to help. Working with adults, teammates, and classmates helped me learn how to communicate with people. Doing the project and collecting my books helped me learn how to be responsible and organized. When everyone helped me, I realized how much time people take to help others. My whole project was a great experience for me, and now the kids can read books at their level.

Our names are Leila Lyions, Bela Jimenez, and Morgan Pearson and we play for the U-11 White Team. For our community service project, we helped the International Rescue Committee (IRC) in Oakland with their annual Thanksgiving Day dinner event. This event introduces incoming refugees to Thanksgiving. We collected hygiene products, craft supplies, and soccer balls from donations. With these donations we put together 33 bags for the refugees. We also made tons of rainbow loom bracelets for the kids.

At the church, we played soccer in the pouring rain with some of the kids. Eventually, it started to pour so hard we couldn’t play outside so they said we could play in the hall. We also helped the kids make ornaments, paper snowflakes, origami, and we helped them draw. The ornaments were supposed to have a little reindeer on them, but kids got really creative and made up their own ideas.

At the event, we met many different families including the most recent Syrian family who just escaped a civil war two weeks prior to the event. Their family didn’t speak English and had a little girl that was in a wheelchair and a boy with curly hair. The mom was pregnant with her third child. We also met a girl, older than us, who loved soccer and has two younger brothers. They were from the Middle East. She was really friendly and had a lot of things in common with us. She helped us a lot with the kids. From this experience we had a lot of fun and everyone was very happy and said that this had been their favorite feast ever!

We are part of the Rage U-11 Orange team. Our names are Ashley, Maddie, Caitlin, and Maggie. For our Community Service project we decided to make blankets with the elders at Stoneridge Creek Community. We made blankets with the elders, and we had a blast! They all had smiles on their faces, and we made their Thanksgiving Day a little bit better. Working with the elders was a fantastic experience. They made our day, and we hopefully made theirs. Stoneridge Creek Community helped us a lot by, donating their time, and also giving us the felt for actually making the blankets.

After making the blankets with the team and the elders, the next day, we drove to the Oakland Children’s Research Hospital to deliver the blankets. When we were there we got to meet Ms. Veronica. She told us all about the hospital and what she does. We got taught how they deliver the blankets to the children, and how they always put a smile on their faces. Ms. Veronica thanked us many times from donating the blankets, and we thanked her for getting the opportunity to give back to our community.

All in all this project was a great success, and we hope to be able to have more opportunities like this one. We recommend doing community service for everyone from all ages. You would be so shocked how fun it really is.