July 16, 2015
On Saturday, a group of Vanderbilt student-athletes and administrators, including Director of Athletics David Williams, will team up with Nashville-based Soles4Souls and depart for a seven-day international service trip to Cuba.
This is the third time Vanderbilt has partnered with Soles4Souls for an international service trip. Trips have previously been to Tanzania in 2013 and Costa Rica in 2014.
In total, 10 student-athletes will travel to Cuba to deliver shoes to those in need. The teams represented are bowling, men’s cross country, women’s golf, lacrosse, soccer, swimming and women’s tennis.
“We have placed a priority on the overall student-athlete experience at Vanderbilt, and we certainly wanted to continue what we started two years ago in Tanzania.” Director of Athletics David Williams said. “This trip to Cuba allows us to once again provide an opportunity for student-athletes to conduct service work internationally to help others and learn about the culture and country. I think the thing that is so unique about Cuba is the opportunity for us to get an understanding for what the country has meant to the United States and to be able to witness it as it is actually changing.”
The educational trip is scheduled from July 18-26 with two nights – one on each end of the trip – being spent in Miami. During the trip to Cuba, the group will take part in shoe distributions, educational forums and tours of museums and historical sites.
The traveling party will be in Cuba during a historical time between the U.S. and the Caribbean country. On July 1, President Obama formally announced that the two countries agreed to open embassies in each other’s capitals on Monday, July 20. That same day will officially mark the resumption of full diplomatic relations between U.S. and Cuba for the first time since 1961.
If permitted, the Vanderbilt contingent would like to attend the opening of the U.S. Embassy, but will nonetheless be in Havana when the historic moment takes place.
“We are waiting on word from Washington as to whether we can go,” Williams said. “Even if we can’t go, we will at least be in Havana.”
In order for student-athletes to be accepted for the trip, they first had to apply by writing an essay and providing letters of recommendation.
For Williams, it is intriguing to see what Cuba looks like today compared to what it will be like 10 years from now. The opportunity to be able to travel to Cuba just a few months after being permitted to do so by the government reminds him of when he was at Ohio State and traveled to South Africa when apartheid was still in existence.
“I’ve been able to go back to South Africa a number of times since that first visit and it is remarkable to see how much it has changed,” Williams said. “I assume we would be able to say the same thing 10 years from now for the people who are going to Cuba.”
Overseeing the logistics of the trip will be Soles4Souls Travel Manager Kelly Hoskins, who also led Vanderbilt’s trips to Tanzania and Costa Rica. This will mark the first time Soles4Souls has led a trip to Cuba. Travel of this nature from the U.S. to Cuba was not permitted until last December.
Soles4Souls is a global not-for-profit institution dedicated to fighting the devastating impact and perpetuation of poverty. The organizational advances its anti-poverty mission by collecting new and used shoes and clothes from individuals, schools, faith-based institutions, civic organizations and corporate partners, then distributing those shoes and clothes both via direct donations to people in need and by provisioning qualified micro-enterprise programs designed to create jobs in poor and disadvantaged communities.
Since it began, Soles4Souls has distributed more than 22 million pairs of shoes in 127 countries. Soles4Souls is committed to the highest standards of operating and governance, and holds a four-star rating with Charity Navigator. Please visit www.soles4souls.org for more information.
Student-Athletes on the Trip
Simone Charley (Soccer/track)
Logan Cox (Soccer)
Sam DeFabrizio (Men’s cross country)
Kendyll Dellinger (Bowling)
Ashlin Dolan (Lacrosse)
Kate Hornaday (Swimming)
Alexa Kunowsky (Lacrosse)
Nicole Powell (Bowling)
Morgan Ransom (Women’s golf)
Georgina Sellyn (Women’s tennis)
