By Tammi Pitzen, Executive Director of The Children’s Advocacy Center of Jackson County

My faith in humanity has been restored.

I have to be honest.  I have been struggling the last couple of weeks.  I have been struggling to reconcile the violence, the hatred, the arguing, the shaming, and the lack of empathy that plays out every day on the news with the vision of the world I have in my heart…the one I want my son to grow up in and be a part of.

It had left me in a major funk!  Not quite depressed but unable to shake the hopelessness.  Just when I thought it was going to take over and change this glass half full girl’s outlook, something wonderful happened and it totally snapped me out of it.

The something that happened was dreamed up by a 14 year old high school freshman.  There is STILL good in this world.  There are young people who care about the world around them.  This weekend I witnessed it.  A young man named Milan help restore my faith in humanity.

Last weekend was an event that was the culmination of a lot of hard work by Milan to put on a fun, free event that could raise awareness about Child Abuse and the services provided by the Children’s Advocacy Center.  It was the Impact Soccer Clinic.

I spent that morning surrounded by 47 smiling children having the time of their life — learning new soccer skills from three awesome coaches who donated their time.  I spent the morning watching parents and grandparents cheering on their budding soccer stars.  I spent the morning being overwhelmed and humbled by the generosity of these families.  The Impact Soccer Clinic was a free event however, if you had the means to put a donation in the jar, that was encouraged.

Milan loves to play soccer.  AND he wants to make a difference in the community he lives in and for the children who suffer abuse.  He decided to bring these two passions together and the end result was this wonderful event.

I was able to witness empathy and passion and a desire to leave the world a better place.

I was able to see a young man and his family do something wonderful for the community we live in.

Hope comes from the most unlikely places; you have only to be open to it.  My hope for our world to recover comes in the form of a 14 year old young man who wants to make the world a better place.  I believe he will do that.

I think he already has.

Visit our Facebook Page album for more pictures from Impact Soccer Clinic