Soccer Club for Ilan

The support staff at Ilan’s school has strongly recommended that he join an afterschool program that will help him integrate socially and develop his self-confidence. Ilan likes the idea, particularly if it can be a soccer club. Ilan, 8, who has struggled with speech delays, is sure that he will thrive there and is excited to get started.

The only thing holding him back is his mother’s inability to pay the fees for the group. Separated from Ilan’s father, she cannot hold a job because she always needs to be available to Ilan’s five-year old brother, who is austistic and asthmatic, and requires frequent hospitalization. She relies on social security payments.

Ilan’s father (separated from his mother for several years) sees Ilan and his siblings regularly but without a steady job of his own, cannot help them financially. Ilan’s older sister has back problems that require expensive orthopedic equipment. They live in his grandmother’s house, and there simply is no money for soccer.