University of Tennessee Athletics
Sole Purpose: Neal's Collection Benefits Liberian Athletes
May 04, 2017 | Soccer
By Danielle Whaley
Putting on a pair of shoes is an everyday task for people – whether it's putting on a pair of sneakers, flip flops, or even a pair of cleats. They seem like a simple necessity to most people, but what about those who need specific shoes to play sports and do not have the means to get them?
Tennessee dual-sport athlete Maya Neal is doing her part to make sure that this need is met by collecting and donating shoes for the people of Liberia.
When the sophomore is not competing for the Vols on the soccer field or at track and field meets, she also competes for Liberia, the country where most of her mother's family is from. Through competing for the west African country, especially as a track athlete at the African Championships in 2016, she saw how one of her greatest loves could help a larger group of people.
"I have a lot of shoes and realized I didn't need all of them because I knew it was based on want. I thought I might as well put that love to good use and get rid of some," Neal said. "After coming back from South Africa (where the 2016 African Championships were), I saw that other people didn't have the things that we always think we need; when it is all just based on what we want."
From there, she began asking others if they had shoes that they wanted to give away as well. In her first shipment of donations in October 2016, she sent over 40 pairs of shoes with 22 pairs coming from her own personal shoe collection. Since that initial donation, she has sent one more shipment of donations to Liberia which included around 20 pairs of shoes.
These collections allow for a variety of shoes to be donated, but the majority of the shoes are sports cleats, trainers, and track spikes. Neal and Liberian Olympian Phobay Kutu-Akoi send shipments to Liberian track coach Samuel Cooper Choko so they can be distributed to athletes in the area.
While this project is close to her heart, community service is nothing new for Neal. Growing up in Naperville, Illinois, Neal was a member of the Girl Scouts. She got her start in community service projects in the second grade and hasn't stopped serving others since.
"My parents encouraged us to do that so it was nothing out of the usual," Neal said. "I expect myself to do something to help others and I enjoy doing that."
In high school, she won the President's Award for completing over 100 hours of community service within a year for a service project that she created called Link Up, a project that focused on informing schools of how to integrate military kids into their schools after they were transplanted there.
"My brothers are both in the military and so is my dad's entire family. Having those people in the military obviously helped me to be more invested in it."
As she saw with Link Up, connections with others is what makes community service much easier to accomplish. The same can be said with the collections for Liberia.
"I think connections are everything. Honestly, with community service and trying to help other people; if you know people, it just makes helping out much easier," Neal noted. "It just makes you more invested in the cause because if you're more passionate about something, it'll make it better for you."
Her connections to Liberia through competing for the country have motivated her even more to help the people of the country in any way she possibly can. Her goal for the project is simple: to create an organization at some point.
"I had always wanted to help the country. It was just a matter of figuring out how to help. I want to be the one on the ground distributing the shipments to the people," Neal said. "Meeting people and making connections helps to execute whatever it is I may want to do. Competing for them just makes me more passionate about what I'm doing and what I may do in the future."
For now, she's focused on giving her all for Tennessee through soccer and track and maybe even making her way to the USA National Soccer team or competing at the Olympics in track and field. She's taking it all one step at a time while also donating one pair of shoes at a time.
If you want to help her in her endeavors, find her on Twitter (@MayaBear32) or Instagram (@My_uh32) to see how and when you can donate.
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