This summer, seniors Mara Hughes and Erin Miller used a vision grant sponsored by MVNU president Dr. Dan Martin to raise $6,130 to date for the Olevolos Project, an organization that helps AIDS orphans in Tanzania, Africa. (See that complete story at http://tinyurl.com/olevolosproject/.)

After the success of that initiative, Hughes and Miller began to try to think of another way that their entire team could live out the MVNU vision - "To Change the World with the Love of Christ”. Then, during one Sunday service at Hughes’ home church, Grace Fellowship pastor Keith Minier asked everyone to leave their shoes on the altar at the end of the service to have them go to the Soles4Souls ministry. It impressed Hughes greatly when everyone went forward and participated and left the church service shoeless. From there, the idea to do something similar with the MVNU women’s soccer team was born.

"After getting the grant and working with the Olevolos Project, we realized that with a little bit of ingenuity a lot can be accomplished, especially when a bunch of people put their minds together,” said Hughes. "We wanted our team to have a goal that was bigger than soccer this season, and we felt this was a way that everyone could get involved and make a difference.”

"The ladies on our team continue to impress me!” said first-year MVNU coach Daniel Seiffert. "It truly shows how blessed I am to work with such a great group of individuals who have a heart for serving the Lord and serving others. These girls grasp the importance of being winners in the game of life. Soccer will come and go, but it is the impact you have on others during that time that I believe God looks down and smiles on. I am very excited for our team, our university, and our community to get involved in this great ministry to truly help make a difference in the world around us.”

At every home match this season, the Lady Cougars will have a donation box available for fans to leave shoes to be donated to the cause. They will also be contacting each team that they play and inviting them to be a part of this. Already, several teams have had a favorable response towards participating in this initiative and the University of the Cumberlands (Ky.) made the first donation of shoes at the home match on September 12th. Then, on the team’s Senior Day on October 10th against Roberts Wesleyan (N.Y.) College, the Lady Cougars plan to display all the shoes that they have been collected as well as encourage the entire MVNU student body, faculty, and staff to participate with donations.

In addition to the collection of shoes at every home match, the Lady Cougars will also be sponsoring and running a youth soccer clinic on Sunday, September 27, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at Cougar Field for kids ages 5-12. There will be no charge for this clinic except that each child will be asked to bring a used pair of shoes to donate to the cause.

For more information about the youth soccer clinic or to make a donation, please contact MVNU women’s soccer coach Daniel Seiffert at dseiffer@mvnu.edu or (740) 392-6868 ext. 3109. For more information about Soles4Souls, go to http://www.soles4souls.org.