TJ students send soccer gear to kids in eight countries

Bera Gumruk of Annandale, a senior at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, is sending soccer gear to youths across the world.

Bera has been playing soccer since he was five years old. “I love it a lot. I have a lot of passion for it,” he says.

After he learned that his father couldn’t afford soccer equipment when he was a child in Turkey, Bera launched Soccer-4-All, a program that sends soccer kits – cleats, jerseys, shin guards, socks, and balls – to children and youths in underserved communities in eight countries.

“I realized this is a really big issue,” Bera says. Children throughout the world also have a passion for the sport and have access to schoolyards and open fields, but lack the gear they need to play.  

Soccer-4-All has so far distributed 3,000 pieces of gear, enough to support 1,000 youths – to Mexico, Haiti, Argentina, Nigeria, Morocco, Uganda, Tanzania, and Malaysia. As the program grew, Bera recruited his brother Omer, a freshman at TJ, to help.

Bera and Omer send the equipment to trusted local partners in those countries, such as relatives and family friends, who make sure it reaches the children who need it the most.

As a freshman at TJ, Bera played on the school’s soccer team. Now, he and Omer play for MLS Next, an elite national league associated with Major League Soccer.

He says soccer is important because it builds self-confidence, develops teamwork skills, and creates a sense of belonging in which youths feel seen, included, and valued.

Donations to Soccer-4-All can be made here.

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