EAST BOSTON, MA—On October 23rd 2009, a seasonably chilly Friday afternoon, thirty employees from Thomson Reuters’ Boston office left their business suits behind, donning soccer cleats and windbreakers as they gathered on the field of LoPresti Park in East Boston. It must have seemed strange that a group of financial industry heads were hanging out at a park on the Boston harbor during the workday, but the Thomson Reuters employees in Boston and across the nation were on a mission: to organize a service project with the national non-profit America SCORES. In the Boston area, Thomson Reuters collaborated with the America SCORES’ regional affiliate, America SCORES New England, to benefit the public school students who attend its after-school program. This school year, 660 at-risk elementary and middle school students are participating in the America SCORES New England after-school program, which combines soccer leagues, language arts workshops, and service-learning projects that inspire youth to lead healthy lifestyles, be engaged students, and become agents of change in their communities. As the Thomson Reuters employees set out a fajita buffet, erected soccer goals, and unfurled their hand drawn soccer team signs, sixty of America SCORES New England’s 3rd-8th grade poet-athletes from the McKay K-8 School in a predominantly Hispanic neighborhood of East Boston came racing down the sidewalk. “I am the king!” the fastest boy shouted, jumping up and down on a nearby bench.
As kids began to funnel in, dropping their backpacks hurriedly at the corner of the field, they began searching for their teammates. “Whoa, you are totally on Team Toros too!” one girl exclaimed to her friend, motioning grandly to a nearby group of Thomson Reuters staff holding up a poster with a large, frightening looking bull on it. Within minutes, everyone made their way over to one of seven teams, which sported names such as Team Ole Ole, Los Diablos, and Team Del Sol.At the blow of a whistle, the first of six rounds of scrimmages began, with four teams playing at any given time. Competition was intense, and fancy footwork abounded, as the McKay students and Thomson Reuters staff maneuvered the ball back and forth across the field. During the games, headers were made on the goal, several huge kicks almost sent the ball flying into the harbor, the “Ole, Ole, Ole” song was sung with much gusto at least once, and an elementary school boy unsuspectingly tripped over a Thomson Reuters player’s outstretched leg, tumbled to the ground, and came up giggling.
When each team came off the field for a break between scrimmages, they were welcomed by a heaping buffet of fajita chicken, beans, salsa, tortillas, roasted peppers, shredded cheese, and orange wedges which had been donated by Thomson Reuters staff. “This is fine Mexican cuisine!” one boy declared with a big smile as he approached the table. Dwayne Simmons, the Education Director at America SCORES New England, beamed as he announced that it was “the best food these kids have had all season.” When one girl fit an orange wedge rind in her mouth and an America SCORES staff member asked if she was impersonating a monster or an alien, she immediately answered “I’m the fastest player in the world! My name is Bianca. Would you like my soccer player autograph?”
As the day drew to a close, the Thomson Reuters volunteers and McKay poet-athletes assembled on the grass for the awards ceremony. Calling out student names with much cheering, Thomson Reuters staff handed out certificates of achievement and a donated soccer ball for each poet-athlete to take home. As the poet-athletes picked up their knapsacks and began to head home, there was already talk amongst Thomson Reuters and America SCORES staff about when they could hold another event. “It’s great to see our employees so engaged!” Danielle McLaughlin from Thomson Reuters’ Human Resources Department announced. America SCORES New England’s Deputy Director, Caryl Lattof, had this to say: “In the midst of a major recession it’s inspiring to see individuals from the financial sector work so closely with non-profits to provide at-risk youth with events like this. In this new and ever-changing economic climate, corporate citizenship is arguably more important now than ever…people are re-directing more of their energy towards helping others.” For the McKay kids in East Boston, many of whom had never met employees from a downtown financial firm, this burgeoning corporate citizenship is an unprecedented gift.To check out more pictures from the event, visit our flickr page.
