The McCallie lacrosse teams open up the 2018 season Saturday with a community service project that will help get shoes to Chattanooga children in need. McCallie is teaming up with "Lace Up With Lax," a program that helps lacrosse teams nationwide supply new pairs of shoes to homeless children.
The Blue Tornado hosts Atlanta’s Westminster Saturday at Spears Stadium on the McCallie campus, with the JV teams playing at 11:30 a.m. and the varsity squads squaring off at 2 p.m. There is no admission charge to the games, but the Blue Tornado invites the community bring a new pair of children’s shoes to the stadium.
The shoes will be donated to a homeless shelter in the Chattanooga area. Shoes are needed for children ranging in ages from toddlers to teenagers, so all sizes are needed.
Lace Up With Lax is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to define the legacy of lacrosse players off the field by helping end homelessness one step at a time. Since the program's inception in 2013, more than 2,500 pairs of new shoes have been donated to homeless shelters throughout the United States.
The project began in 2013 at Pope High School in Atlanta. Since then, the model has been used by more than 100 teams in high schools, colleges, universities and independent lacrosse teams in the U.S., Canada and England.