As part of the club’s ongoing commitment to local communities, the San Jose Earthquakes and the Quakes Foundation have made financial donations to local organizations on behalf of all new signings this offseason. This week, the Earthquakes announced the signings of Luciano Abecasis, Benji Kikanovic, and Eric Remedi, providing donations to the San Jose Steamrollers, Soccer without Borders, and the United Farm Workers (UFW) Foundation, respectively.
Soccer without Borders
Soccer without Borders Oakland, founded in 2007, is a local youth organization chapter in Alameda County that serves underserved youth communities a supportive framework for growth, inclusion and personal success throughout the game of soccer. The program also specializes in welcoming new coming refugee and immigrant children in the area, giving them open access to organization resources. Soccer without Borders provides academic and personal support, community learning opportunities, and soccer programming to more than 1,900 participants from 37 different countries of origin across the county.
To learn more about Soccer without Borders, visit www.soccerwithoutborders.org.
San Jose Steamrollers
San Jose Steamrollers, founded in the 1980s, is a Power Wheelchair club in San Jose and one of the founding teams of the sport in the United States. Now, the Steamrollers play competitively alongside 60 teams across the states and 250 teams worldwide. Power Soccer is the first competitive team sport designed specifically for wheelchair athletes with disabilities. The Steamrollers, who compete in regional and national tournaments every year, provide resources and programming to disabled participants for personal growth and support.
Last year, the Quakes Foundation announced a partnership with the San Jose Steamrollers, bring both parties together in support of the Power Soccer community in the Bay Area.
To learn more about the San Jose Steamrollers, visit www.sjsteamrollers.com.
UFW Foundation
UFW Foundation, founded in 2006, is a nonprofit that advocates for labor rights and protections for farm workers across California and the United States and provides educational outreach and critical services such as serving as the largest provider of immigration legal services to low-income rural California communities. During the pandemic, the UFW Foundation has distributed more than $17 million to more than 33,000 immigrants and farm workers. Some 189,000 restaurant-prepared meals, close to 50,000 food boxes and 800,000 masks, have also been distributed in rural communities.
The Quakes Foundation most recently partnered with UFW Foundation last December to donate $20,000 to supply holiday care kits for farmworker families in Salinas, Calif.
To learn more about UFW Foundation, visit www.ufwfoundation.org.
Previously, the Quakes Foundation made a donation to MACLA (Movimiento de Arte y Cultura Latino Americana) on behalf of new signing Eduardo ‘Chofis’ Lopez. More than 30,000 children, youth, young adults, families and community residents participate in the 50 programs MACLA produces each year in four core program tracts: visual arts; performance and literary arts; youth arts education; and community development through the arts.
