Get Them Rides

Equal Opportunity through Sports is a small non-profit that aims to improve opportunity for children in urban, low-income, blighted, and/or struggling neighborhoods.  EOSports is currently focused on improving opportunities in Memphis.  EOSports provides assistance in Cordova TN with their high school soccer programs.  EOSports is also working in Orange Mound to improve sports opportunities for children there.

Societal problems such as community violence, substance abuse, crime, infant mortality, etc would all be greatly decreased if opportunity was increased in these neighborhoods.  This is evident by comparing two communities within Memphis.  Orange Mound (community in urban Memphis) has a high community violence problem as well as crime, substance abuse and poverty.  Germantown (a suburban community outside of Memphis) has a very low crime rate, with a significantly much lower rate of community problems.  When you compare the opportunities for children in these neighborhoods, you can see a huge disparity.  Melrose High (Orange Mound) has nearly 1/2 the sports programs as Houston (Germantown).  Melrose has very few club options, where as Houston boasts one of the best club programs in the country.  

EOSports needs a lot of assistance to work on improving these disparities.  One of the most pressing needs of EOSports is to have a transportation budget.  We are currently transporting our youth from Orange Mound to Germantown and East Memphis in order to participate in quality soccer events.  We are however using our own vehicles and do not have the adequate insurance coverage as well as a vehicle to make this the most efficient process possible.  A transportation budget would help open up significant opportunities for both our soccer program in Orange Mound as well as our programs at Cordova High school. 

Ideally a small 20-30 passenger bus would greatly meet our needs for years to come.  However, if this is too lofty of a goal, even a budget that would allow for hiring a small transportation service for 8-10 weeks a year would work for our Orange Mound program.  This however would not allow us to grow much further.

1-2 months to research the most cost effective opportunity for transportation.  Price out insurance options.  

1 month to make an offer, have the vehicle inspected and purchase the vehicle.  

alternatively 

1-2 months to call transportation services in Memphis and to decide on the most appropriate option.

My family lives in Germantown TN and attend Germantown Municipal Schools.  One of the core values that our family believes is what MLK stated "injustice anywhere is a threat to justice anywhere."  So I believe that justice is valuable not only to improve the lives of others but to preserve stability within other neighborhoods.  

Problems in our world such as inequality, infant mortality, community violence, substance abuse, gang violence, prostitution, etc are the responsibility of all of us.  It is our moral responsibility to love our neighbor and care for others, the environment and the future of the world.  The core values undergirding EOSports are those of promoting equality, decreasing society problems, and bringing people of all races, income levels and differences together.

EOSports also recognizes that it is only a small piece in working to improve our world, however the goal is partner with schools, community programs, and other organizations to solve these problems.