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.
This article appears in May 17-23, 2017.
really cheap PR, that’s why.
Soccer remains inexpensive when it comes to outfitting a youth participant. And if the field can become a hub for clinics, camps and leagues…..it will be a gift that keeps on giving.
Alternative version:
Cleveland Clinic is a multi-billion dollar international cartel that continues to gobble-up expensive, premium real estate and operate under the guise of a “non-profit” entity. It’s top officers, all drawing multi-million dollar salary and benefits packages, have perfected the art of taking potential tax-producing land and converting it to tax-free, community-resourse-draining dead zone.
In order to gain top headlines and generate loads of free press, they squeezed their oil-rich partners/customers/investors/benefactors into ponying up half the cost for a field of grass with a couple nets at either end for exactly one school in Ohio.
A normal abacus can’t handle the math,so it remains unclear what infinitesimally small percentage of their combined trillions of dollars of revenue is represented by their sod donation.