This past Saturday, The Columbus Crew soccer team came out to support Breakthrough T1D, Prep4Gold Childhood Cancer Organization and NC4K for Kicking for a Cause. Kicking for a Cause is a fun filled evening organized by Goalkeeper Evan Bush, for kids ages 5-14 to join members of the 3-time MLS Cup winners the Columbus Crew to join forces and raise money to fight against type 1 diabetes and childhood cancer.

Breakthrough T1D is a leading global organization funding type 1 diabetes research.  Their mission is to invest in breakthrough research to drive cures, to advocate for change and to empower and support.

Prep4Gold is an organization that is approaching the issue of prevention as it relates to every aspect of childhood cancer. The organization works towards to reduce the number of children diagnosed with cancer, working to eliminate the harmful effects from toxic and outdated therapies and more.

NC4K is an organization that provides support for kids and teens fighting cancer and their families. Their mission is to not have any child fight cancer alone.

Jonathan Eric Agin , who is the Executive Director of Prep4Gold has been making it his mission to get care for children with cancer since the untimely passing of his daughter Alexis.

The event took place at the old Crew Stadium at 6pm and the kids were fired up and ready to go. The kids came ready in their soccer uniforms and were warming up by doing suicides, kicking the ball around and warm up exercises.

They set up the field into different zones and at registration kids received different color wrist bands. There were a few zones where they had a friendly game of soccer and some zones where they had obstacles. You can tell that most of the kids were soccer players, and they had a lot of energy and were very good.

Some of the Columbus Crew players instructed and joined in with the kids and giving them a lot of motivation on playing soccer. It was a great moment with raising money for a good cause, but for teaching kids’ teamwork and if they don’t get a goal, to keep pushing hard.

At the end, 3 of the Columbus Crew including Evan Bush signed autographs for the kids and gave the kids the opportunity to kick a goal and see if the goalie could stop.  Some of the kids were kicking better than the professionals and you would have thought they have been kicking the ball before they could walk.

If you would like to learn more about these organizations and donate go to www.breakthrought1d.org , https://www.nc4k.org/ , https://www.prep4gold.org/home