Pillar Award Finalist
Mark McCullers
president and general manager
Columbus Crew
president
Crew Soccer Foundation
www.thecrew.com | (614) 447-2739
Beyond wins, losses and entertainment, the Columbus Crew maintains a commitment to making a difference in its community. Combining the efforts of the Major League Soccer team’s charitable arm, the Crew Soccer Foundation, with those of its players, coaches and front office staff, the organization works diligently to help make Central Ohio a better place.
As in years past, Mark McCullers, president and general manager of the Columbus Crew, has helped Crew staff and players donate more than 250 hours and $347,000 to numerous community needs. The Crew and its Soccer Foundation utilize soccer as a vehicle to serve at-risk youth through education, field development and healthy lifestyles.
The team’s areas of philanthropic focus are education, soccer field creation, refurbishment and programming in underserved communities, and health awareness. From volunteering their time and money at local area hospitals or helping kids learn to read or play sports, Columbus Crew members are involved in the community year-round.
Last March, the team opened its new Crew Soccer Foundation Field, a project three years in the making that transformed the area north of the Stadium Club at Crew Stadium into a beautiful synthetic mini-pitch. Since its completion, the foundation has created two field programs: the Heroes League and a monthly clinic series for area at-risk youth.
The club has also begun construction to build a soccer field and refurbish three others at the Columbus Recreation and Parks Department’s Innis Park complex. This initiative will develop soccer programming, including leagues and clinics to serve at-risk youth, starting in the spring.
