Elizabeth Kilbride
News Editor
The Pura Vida club hosted their third annual flag football tournament Sunday, November 8 on the water tower field. There were 23 teams and 151 players.
Sharon Knechtle founded Pura Vida at NCHS four years ago after she went on a mission trip with students. They enjoyed the trip and weren’t ready to have it all end, she said. As a result, they decided to make a year-round club dedicated to helping the world’s impoverished people.
Because the sizable founding class graduated last year, it was unclear how well this year’s flag football tournament would be received. “This year was a transition year,” Ms. Knetchle said, “so I wasn’t expecting the tournament to be such a success. I think we might’ve had a bit more [participation]this year than last year.”
“I was kind of nervous,” senior club leader Catherine Betack said. “But [this year]ended up having just as much of a turnout. It’s a good mix of kids who come out to play. People get really into it,” she said, citing matching team outfits. “There’s definitely a competitive nature to it. Everyone’s excited to play and to play for the cause.”
“It’s a great way to donate to the less fortunate,” senior John Sirisuth said pre-tournament on Sunday, adding that his team was “in it to win it”.
Still, the Pura Vida tournament is not only for the athletically gifted. “We had a lot of football players out there,” Ms. Knechtle said, “and even they were goofing off. It’s not about being athletic.”
The tournaments exists so that “more and more kids really understand the whole advocacy piece,” said Ms. Knechtle. Pura Vida advocates and fundraises for Love 146, an organization that combats child sex trafficking, as well as for two orphanages, one in Haiti and one called Robleato in Costa Rica. “We’re really trying to help them understand the money goes to a good cause.”
The tournament raised $2635, which will help to raise the club’s overall goal of $38,000. This money is used to package meals which are then distributed by the organization Feed My Starving Children; the money from this tournament alone equates to 13,800 meals. Last year was the first year Pura Vida packaged meals. Students signed up for two hour shifts in the Lounge to prepare them.
“We had no idea how easy and fun it would be,” Ms. Knechtle said. “We had music going the whole time. Boys from the lacrosse and football teams showed up. The whole baseball team showed up with their coach. There was one Girl Scout troop there. We really promoted it to the whole town.”
“This year we’re really shooting for 200,000 packaged meals,” she said. To procure this goal, Pura Vida will host other fundraisers, including their dodge ball tournament, tentatively planned for January 9, so that the founding members who have graduated NCHS can participate. The food packaging itself will take place on May 21 and 22 of next year.
