Deployed pilot engineers donate soccer balls to Afghan children

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Jamie L. Coggan
  • 355th Fighter Wing Public Affairs
Davis-Monthan Air Force Base --  Hundreds of Afghan children have some new toys, thanks to a deployed D-M Airman.

Maj. Daniel Clayton, an A-10 pilot with the 354th Expeditionary Fighter Squadron at Bagram Air Base, Afghanistan, has loved soccer since he was a young boy kicking a ball around with his father's Pentagon soccer team. He even went on to play the U.S. Air Force Academy soccer team.

"I was riding a friend's bicycle around Bagram and saw some kids on the other side of the fence playing - just kind of running around with sticks and sitting in a field," said Major Clayton, whose stateside unit is the 354th Fighter Squadron here. "I figured they could probably have a lot more fun with a soccer ball than with the sticks and the dirt."

Before he knew it, 200 soccer balls were on the way to Bagram.

At first, Major Clayton didn't really have a plan. He just mentioned to his wife that it would be great if somebody could give the Afghan kids something besides sticks and dirt to play with. Of course, soccer balls immediately came to mind. That brief discussion set in motion a charitable chain of events.

First, Ms. Reynolds-Clayton shared the thought with his parents, which prompted his dad, Air Force Col. (retired) Richard C. Clayton, to call a friend at the Pentagon. That friend, Dave Nanney, an Air Force contractor and member of the Pentagon Soccer Club, forwarded the idea to Phyllis Riedler, who works for U.S. Soccer Foundation.

Ms. Riedler got together with USSF partner and soccer outfitter Eurosport and, through the nonprofit Passback program, requested that 150 soccer balls be sent to Afghanistan. The program uses donations to provide soccer equipment to people or teams who can't afford to buy their own.

Only a couple of days after mentioning the idea to his wife, a surprised Major Clayton heard back from her that the plan was in the works.

As it turns out, the Passback donation that funded the Claytons' efforts was provided by 13-year-old Matthew Wolfen, from Los Angeles. Participating in an outreach program at his church, Matthew asked friends and family to donate money to the Passback program instead of giving him presents for his 13th birthday and Bar Mitzvah celebration.

His friends and relatives responded, donating more than $1,000, all of which was used to purchase soccer balls and ship them to Major Clayton in Afghanistan.

"I love playing soccer and kids are important to me, so I thought this project and organization would be perfect," Matthew said. "Watching the World Cup this summer, I noticed that something as simple as a soccer ball can truly bring people together and help change the world."

Two-hundred soccer balls, along with a full-size bike pump and two handheld pumps provided by Mr. Nanney, were shipped to Afghanistan June 15 and arrived June 28.

At breakfast June 30, Major Clayton ran into a colleague having breakfast with seven Afghan boys in one of the dining facilities. Later that morning, those boys became the happy recipients of the first 10 soccer balls.

"The kids said 'thank you,' which really means they are thanking all of us for a few minutes worth of work and a few bucks, which has brightened their day," Major Clayton said.

"They all had grins from ear-to-ear and immediately started playing, within minutes of getting home," he said.

To date, Major Clayton and his colleagues have distributed 120 balls to children in Afghanistan.