Sisters Spread the Love of Soccer and Comradery to Kids Around the World

Meet Daily Point of Light Award honorees Sydney and Ashley Mednik. Read their story, and nominate an outstanding volunteer or family as a Daily Point of Light.  

Sisters 15-year-old Sydney and 13-year-old Ashley Mednik co-founded Pass with Purpose to provide soccer uniforms to children  around the world. The duo work with youth soccer clubs near their Potomac, Maryland, community to collect used soccer jerseys, shorts and socks to form full uniforms and donate them to children are interested in forming soccer teams but struggle to find the funding.   

The sisters recently collected over 1,000 soccer jerseys, shorts and socks to be sent to Zambia. They’re in the middle of another donation and are excited to see how many donated items they’ll be able to distribute to children and families in the near future.  

What inspires you to volunteer?  

Ashley: We first became involved with Pass with Purpose in 2022. We always have known how lucky we were to have so much and to be so fortunate, so we decided to give back old soccer uniforms to kids who aren’t as fortunate as we are, who can’t afford them. We wanted to share the game of soccer; the way we’re used to playing on a team. There was also a really good way to reuse the jersey’s around the and there were so many soccer uniforms going to waste because usually players get new uniforms every two years. We needed to find somewhere to bring our cause to life, and that’s when we decided to start Pass with Purpose.  

Tell us about your volunteer roles with Pass with Purpose.  

Sydney: The main mission of Pass with Purpose is to hold collection drives with youth soccer clubs locally. We collect a bunch of soccer uniforms. After each of our drives, we put together a plan on where to donate them and then we figure out how we’re going to do our next drive. Right now we’re receiving uniforms and once this drive is done, we’ll pick them up, fold them and we communicate with our contacts in the area where we’re dominating them. So we’re sort of always collecting, planning for our next drive and donating them to a community in need when we can. We’re really excited to expand.  

Our first drive that we held was for athletes in Zambia because we already had a contact there so it was obviously easier for us to go to that area. We target international areas around the world where there’s a lot of kids playing soccer; where the sport is very popular. Right now we’re looking to hold our next drive for Costa Rica and Guatemala because that’s where we have a lot of contacts. We look anywhere where we can get the uniforms to kids who would appreciate them the most. 

Ashley: Once we collect the jerseys from our collection bins, we take them home and we sort the jerseys by color, size and by type — whether it’s like jersey shorts or socks — so we can distribute them easier.

What’s been the most rewarding part of your work?  

Sydney: It’s knowing that these kids get to play on teams, because before, they didn’t have the jerseys so they couldn’t really play in teams. But now that they do, it is so special to see that they get to play. We’ve been playing soccer for like literally our whole lives. So it’s a really special thing to us. It’s also a special thing that we share with each other as sisters. And we just want to share it with as many kids around the world because it’s such a great sport, and it makes us so happy to play. 

What have you learned through your experiences as a volunteer?

Ashley: We know it’s so easy to make a positive impact on kids’ lives. It just takes time and effort. It’s so easy. And once we got the pictures and videos back of all the kids playing in the uniforms and laughing and having fun, it made us feel so good knowing we made a difference in their lives. So it was just so special to see. 

Sydney: We all know how fortunate we are. Sometimes it’s easy to take for granted how much access we have to what we think are such basic things that we have access to. But to these kids, it makes all of the difference. Like my sister said, to see the smiles on their faces really  just puts a smile on my face too. Seeing how happy these kids are, it makes us feel so much more grateful. That’s something I’ve learned from this experience so far.  

Do you have any advice for people who want to start volunteering? Ashley 

Ashley: Just that it’s so easy to help. You can gather a lot of passionate people that are willing to donate or help your cause. It’s like a really good end result. And all it takes is time and commitment. It’s so worth it at the end of the day, even if it’s like a small simple thing like you’re donating old jerseys. If you just find something that you’re passionate about and help others, it’s so easy to just build off of that.

Do you have a favorite memory with Pass with Purpose?  

Sydney: My personal favorite experience from doing this nonprofit is a really unique one. My soccer coach’s wife was visiting Zambia. It had nothing to do with soccer. And as she got out of her tour bus, she was greeted by a ton of little girls wearing Bethesda soccer uniforms, which we had donated. And she was happy to see that and she sent us pictures. It made us so happy because it was like all of our work was being put into actual kid’s lives and they were so happy and proud to wear the uniforms. Especially because they were girls since typically in other countries soccer is a more male-dominated sport. To see these girls get the equal opportunity to wear the jerseys as the boys made us feel so happy because obviously even in the US, we’re still fighting for equality. 

Tell us about future partnerships, programs or events that you are excited about.  

Sydney: We’re currently in the middle of a drive, so we’re excited to see how many uniforms we get donated. We’ll just work on our next drive and donate to other places. We’re already getting so many more uniforms, it’s projected to be around like two times the amount that we had in our last drive, so it’s gonna be really great to send those off to the kids. 

Do you want to make a difference in your community like Sydney and Ashley? Find local volunteer opportunities.