JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — *UPDATE: The community has made enough donations for the stolen items to be replaced.
"We had a huge out pour of love from the wonderful citizens in Jacksonville, Florida. We still have a long road of recovery, but I’m thankful," said Rickie Simon in a Facebook post.
If you'd like to donate to help The Forever Life Achiever Vikings get additional gear or help with season expenditures, you can donate via GoFundMe here.
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It's historically one of the city's worst zip codes for poverty and violent crime, but none of that really matters to The Forever Life Achiever Vikings.
The young football players practice once a week off Jefferson Street in the Hogan's Creek Area. For many, the organization provides hope of a brighter future.
Rickie Simon Jr. is the founder and C.O.O of the association. He says 98% of the U10 team he coaches are also members of the local Boys and Girls Club, where he also serves as the Director Of Government Affairs.
He tells First Coast News that about half of The Forever Life Achiever Vikings come from low-income households. A good portion of funding that goes to purchase jerseys and team equipment comes from his own wallet.
"I take my money and invest it in the team regularly," he says. "My wife is not thrilled about it, but it's meaningful because I was that kid, struggling with homelessness, just wanting to play football."
Now, Simon is asking for the community's help after he had over $9,000 worth of football equipment stolen just weeks away from the start of the season.
"I left Wednesday to go out of town and everything was good, when I returned Sunday to the storage I noticed the lock on the ground," he explains. "That should have been my first clue."
He says 46 helmets and 44 shoulder pads were taken. Simon says 34 of the helmets were ordered just last year.
He says because of this, some kids did a full practice Tuesday wearing nothing but shorts and shoes.
"Initially I wasn't going to call the cops because things like this happen," he says. "But a friend convinced me otherwise. He said I shouldn't give up."
It's a good thing he didn't. Soon he started getting phone calls.
Simon says Diallo-Sekou Seabrooks, CEO of Urban-GeoPonics and former Jacksonville City Council hopeful, called him up and asked about how he could donate. He reportedly gave over $2,000 towards the cause.
Another generous $1,000 donation was made by Legacy Ale Works, a Jacksonville brewery.
"The community has supported Legacy so much (especially through the pandemic year) that this seemed like a great opportunity to pay it forward," said Matt & Liz Jacobs, owners of Legacy Ale Works."It was a no-brainer for us, and we jumped at the chance to help these kids."
Simon says every donation is a blessing as a COVID-19 related supply shortages has increased prices for basic equipment.
If you'd like to donate to help The Forever Life Achiever Vikings you can call Simon at 904-859-5453 or send him funds via GoFundMe here.
He says all donations will go back to the team and any future equipment they may need.
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