Jacklyn Sullivan: Sharing Soccer with the World
(Youth1)- Fifteen-year-old Jacklyn Sullivan is passionate about two things—soccer and helping people—which is why she decided to combine the two things she loves the most in a unique way.
When Jackie was eight years old, she went into the garage of her house and noticed 20 to 30 pairs of old cleats piled up on the ground. Between Jackie and her two older siblings, Christine and Michael,the stack of used soccer shoes had grown and grown over the years. Jackie looked at them and thought to herself, “I wonder what I could do with these,” and then the idea came to her. She decided that she wanted to share her love of soccer with underprivileged children.
She began collecting used cleats from everyone she knew—neighbors, friends, family members and more. Jackie’s father, Stephen, says that she even walked from field to field at soccer tournaments pulling a little red wagon behind her to fill up with cleats. 
In the first year, Jackie was able to gather over 250 pairs of cleats, plus other used soccer equipment, like shin guards and jerseys. Once everything was collected, Jackie had to figure out where to donate everything, but she came up with the answer pretty quickly. Jackie’s father’s friend, who was involved in the East Meadow Soccer Club, was from Haiti and went to visit family there every year, so Jackie decided to donate everything to children in Haiti.
The following soccer season, Jackie didn’t forget about her donating mission, if anything, her drive intensified. Jackie and her father attended the EMSC Covanta Tournament (formerly known as Refuel), the largest youth soccer tournament in the Northeastern United States, to try to collect as much soccer equipment as possible. The amount of donations grew with every year, and in 2009, Jackie collected an impressive 3,900 pieces of equipment, making her the U.S. Soccer Foundation’s Passback Program Collector of the Year. The Passback Program helps individuals, teams and clubs collect and distribute used soccer equipment to places around the globe.
Over the past six years, Jackie has donated equipment to the Gulf Coast, Philadelphia, Uganda, Rwanda, Jamaica, Iraq, and more.
Last weekend Jackie was back in action at the 32nd Annual EMSC Covanta Tournament in East Meadow, New York collecting as many cleats and equipment as possible.
“Basically, I want to be able to give soccer to people who don’t have it,” Jackie says.
So, where does this young girl’s giving nature come from? Stephen says that he and his wife Donna are is very active in community service activities, and have always involved his children in his work. Both of Jackie’s siblings do their own charity work, such as collecting and donating used books or helping at homeless shelters.
“There is a little bit of a ‘Who is going to save the world first?’ rivalry between my kids,” Stephen says.
But the real reason Jackie is so active in this soccer collecting endeavor is because she loves seeing how much joy soccer brings to other people. Although she no longer plays, Jackie remains involved in the sport through the Passback Program, as well as by refereeing youth soccer games.
For Jackie, the best part of gathering all of the soccer equipment to donate are the thank you letters and photos she receives from children all over the world. She says that seeing kids smiling is worth every all of the effort she’s put in over the years, and she plans on continuing her work forever.
For questions about donating equipment, email Stephen Sullivan at
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By Lindsay Stein
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