Friday morning, the United Arab Emirates U.S. Embassy and the Cleveland Clinic dedicated a soccer field that they'd partnered to donate to CMSD's Franklin D. Roosevelt School, in Glenville.
The field is the 10th soccer field in the United States that the UAE Embassy has donated, generally in under-served communities. Other fields have been installed in Los Angeles, Chicago, Washington D.C., Dallas, Miami, New York, and New Jersey.
Cleveland was selected, per the CMSD News Bureau, because of the United Arab Emirates' relationship with the Cleveland Clinic. The Clinic opened a hospital in Abu Dhabi two years ago. (The Clinic assisted locally with site-selection and field installation.)
“We are grateful for this generous gift,” said Eric Gordon, CMSD’s chief executive officer, in a press release. “In addition to health benefits, sports help children develop resilience, teamwork, communication and other skills needed to succeed in school and life. And, along with the Boys & Girls Club already located at Franklin D. Roosevelt, the field will help solidify the school’s role as a neighborhood hub and make it a place where they enjoy coming each day.”
The field will be called the Glenville Community Soccer Field.
CMSD said that UAE Ambassador Yousef Al Otaiba, who helped launch the soccer field program in 2010, was expected to attend Friday's dedication but was not in attendance.
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