Female Athlete Volunteers organization makes $10,000 donation to Challenged Athletes Foundation

During the 2020-21 school year, Female Athlete Volunteers (FAV) kept busy—over 230 volunteers delivered the equivalent of over 2,800 hours of community service and thousands of dollars of donations in over 160 separate events.

This year FAV was able to donate $10,000 to the Challenged Athletes Foundation in support of its High School Adaptive Sports program, to purchase equipment such as sports prostheses and wheelchairs for disabled high school athletes.

FAV will also donate $5,000 to Center for Community Solutions, which will go to support its efforts at assisting victims of domestic violence. The donation will be made at CCS’s annual Tea and Tonic luncheon on June 18.

This year was different because many of the events they would normally do, such as Miracle League, Top Soccer, Father Joe’s Villages, Burrito Boyz were canceled due to the pandemic. As a result, FAV leadership and members got creative finding other opportunities to participate in community service.

The numerous events this year included making care packages for clients of Meals on Wheels, collecting personal protective gear for those employed as first responders, cards of encouragement for lonely seniors in Elderhelp, monthly beach cleanups, filling Christmas stockings and Easter Eggs for 30 boys at New Haven Foster Youth Center, donating new children’s books to refugees and assisting in organizing for a charity golf tournament through Kathy’s Legacy.

FAV volunteers made blankets and toys for Helen Woodward Animal Center, sorted and organized donations at Brother Benno’s Thrift Shop, assembled hygiene kits and made sandwiches at San Diego Rescue Mission, packed food donations at San Diego Food Bank and New Day Urban Ministries, and baked goods and created kiddie bags for persons who are isolated, suffering from cancer or have experienced death in the family through Congregation Beth Israel.

The leadership team this year included Casey White and Samantha Quinlan as co-presidents. Casey, a varsity soccer player at Torrey Pines High School, will be attending Loyola Marymount University this fall, studying film and screenwriting. Samantha, a Canyon Crest Academy varsity soccer player, will be attending Chapman University this fall, studying psychology.