The boys soccer team held its annual Kick It in for Chicago Kids (KICK) fundraiser raising over $4.500.
Started in 2008, KICK is a fundraiser for the Schools Count Corporation, which former varsity soccer coach and history teacher Dick Flesher started. Flesher is currently a member of Central’s Hall of Fame.
Schools Count Corporation began in 2005 in response to the devastation of Hurricane Katrina. Over the years, the corporation has provided aid to schools in Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, Iowa, and Darbonne, Haiti. In 2010, Flesher focused his efforts towards helping schools within Chicago.
Flesher and current head coach, Mike Wiggins, oversee the organization of KICK, but the real responsibility of the fundraiser resides with the current varsity captains, seniors Phil Gutman, Mike Krohn and Connor Oleferchik.
“Mike, Phil, and I were involved in almost every part of the fundraiser: getting business sponsors to donate, getting prizes, prepping and running the event, ordering t-shirts, informing the soccer program, putting up fliers around the school and raising awareness in general. We started working on it this summer, and it was pretty time consuming,” Oleferchik said.
The event is a combination of soccer and tennis and is played on the tennis courts. Teams of four are placed in a bracket. They compete by scoring goals over the soccer net.
The fundraiser, which took place Sept. 16, met its goal. “It was very successful. We raised a lot of money, over 60 kids participated, and it was a great time,” Oleferchik said.
Over the years, the soccer team, with the generosity of the community and program, has raised over $22,500 for Schools Count Corporation.
