MLS: Holiday Cheer

D.C. United D.C. United will mix in many December holiday activities with its preparations for Champions Cup ... The team collected new unwrapped toys and clothing at its headquarters to benefit the Salvation Army's collection services ... For every donation, United gave fans a 2001 autographed played card set ... The players assisted in distributing the items to different families at the Alexandria pick up site ... The Black-and-Red teamed up with the Zany Brainy's in Reston, Virginia this holiday season and on Dec. 20, ten percent of all proceeds from 5 to 9 p.m. were donated to D.C. United's Kicks for Kids program ... Player spoke to kids, signed autographs and posed for pictures at the DC Scores Career Day at Rudolph Elementary School in Washington, D.C. ... Chris Albright and Antonio Otero made a visit to the Children's Hospital in Washington. MetroStars The tenth annual Walsh Cup will be held on Saturday Dec. 23 at the Chatham, New Jersey home of MetroStars' midfielder Billy Walsh ... Top professional players and coaches, including 2000 MLS Honda MVP Tony Meola, Chicago Fire goalkeeper Zach Thornton, Fire Head Coach Bob Bradley, Mike Petke, Mark Semioli, Tim Howard, Mike Ammann, Alexi Lalas and Rob Stone of "MLS ExtraTime" will meet to play in a five-on-five tournament in the family's 40-yard backyard ... Admission is free and donations will go toward the high school soccer program at Chatham High School, where Walsh coaches ... New Jersey Senate President Don DiFrancesco will donate and help serve food and beverages for the hundreds of fans in attendance ... Metros defender Mike Petke will be hosting a "Kick the Violence" charity dinner on Jan. 3 at the Park Avenue Country Club in New York ... The MetroStars and the U.S. Postal Service joined forces to bring some cheer to underprivileged kids at the USPS Annual Project Santa Christmas Party held at Lamb's Theater in New York. Miami Fusion The Fusion has long been busy spreading holiday cheer ... At the Christmas Classic Kick-Off, Kenny's Kids hosted a one-day softball game. Jim Rooney and Leo Cullen were two of many celebrities and professional athletes on hand ... Activities included a home-run contest, autograph sessions, a silent auction, a softball game and a VIP fundraising party ... The money raised from this event will help many foster children ... Fusion staff and players, Leo Cullen, Jeremy Aldrich, Keith Beach, and Henry Gutierrez spent time Christmas Caroling at the Ronald McDonald House ... The Fusion was represented at the Eleventh Annual Christmas Treat Children's fun day, an event to benefit underprivileged children, which was held at a local park with many activities including rides, clowns, pony rides and a live broadcast on Caribbean radio station WAVS ... From the over 2,000 children in attendance, all those under the age of 12 received a special gift from Santa. New England Revolution New England Revolution midfielder Rusty Pierce participated in the annual "Team Harmony" event at the Fleet Center, speaking and answering questions from the students in the audience ... The day-long event was designed to address issues of race and cultural diversity within our communities ... Over 14,000 thousand people (mostly children) attended, with other celebrities including Nomar Garciaparra and Kara Wolters ... Revolution midfielder Leonel Alvarez participated as a bell ringer for the Salvation Army ... The Revolution staff spent a day wrapping gifts at Boston's Faneuil Hall in efforts that helped to raise money for the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless. Chicago Fire The Chicago Fire will be participating in Mayor Daley's Holiday Sports Festival 2000, which takes place from Friday, Dec. 29 to Sunday Dec. 31 at McCormick Place (South Building) ... The event features free activities and clinics, organized sports tournaments and interactive booths ... At the Fire booth fans will be able to measure their "fastest kick" against the pros ... The Fire's front-office staff answered phones for pledges at the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation's Good Neighbor Food Drive Radiothon, a 24-hour phone-in pledge drive hosted by WBBM-AM 780. All money raised went to the Chicago Anti-Hunger Federation. Columbus Crew GM Jim Smith, Brian Maisonneuve, Brian West and other Crew staff, helped collect toys at the local NBC affiliate in the 'NBC-4 Firefighters for Kids' toy drive ... Over 200 cars drove threw in just two hours, and many fans had the opportunities to take pictures and autographs with the players ... As part of the Jingle Bell Run for Arthritis, Mike Clark, John DeBrito and Crew Cat were in attendance to walk in the race, as well as take part as celebrity judges in the Children's costume contest. Dallas Burn The Burn recently donated dozens of new soccer balls to Jingle Balls, a community project spearheaded by the Dallas All Sports Association ... The balls will be distributed to underprivileged youth throughout the Metroplex for the holidays ... Also, for the third straight year, the Burn will participate in the Navidad en el Barrio Christmas program, with the donation of gifts for underprivileged families in the Metroplex. Tampa Bay Mutiny The Mutiny concentrated most of its holiday activities during the month of November but veteran midfielder Dominic Kinnear will once again join San Jose defender John Doyle at the annual Christmas Holiday Soccer Camp from Dec. 27-30 and Jan 2-5 in Livermore, Calif. ... The MLS duo will team up in training youth soccer players ages 7-12 years at Hot Shot indoor facility in Livermore ... This is the 10th year of this Holiday Soccer Camp tradition. Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids joined forces with Denver Scores, ArtReach, the Boys and Girls Clubs of Colorado, and the Glendale Recreation Center to help the Rapids spread holiday cheer among 300 underprivileged inner-city children at the first annual "Kicks for Kids" Christmas party which was held at Ocean Journey ... Sponsored children received special gifts from the Rapids, as well as food and drinks provided by Pepsi and Papa Johns, and free entry to the Ocean Journey exhibits ... Rapids players were also on hand to sign autographs. Kansas City Wizards GM Curt Johnson greeted Wizards fans at the Holiday Open House on Dec. 13 ... The snow was falling yet a number of loyal fans made their way to the Arrowhead Pavilion to meet the Wizards GM and get a glance of the MLS Cup Champions trophy ... Wizards midfielder Brian Johnson was a celebrity guest at the Informix Annual Children's Christmas Party. Johnson spent time with students from the Phyllis Wheatly Elementary School of Kansas City ... Chopper the Dragon was possibly the busiest MLS mascot this December: Kerry Zavagnin and Chopper rode in the Chillicothe Christmas Parade ... They joined members of the Green Hills Soccer Association on the float and then signed autographs for fans after the parade ... Chopper is around the Kansas City area helping promote Harvester Food Drives and Toys for Tots this holiday season ... Chopper attended Fantasy Flight 2000. Sponsored by United Airlines in Kansas City, the third annual Fantasy Flight to the North Pole took place at the Kansas City International Airport. Approximately 140 children with medical challenges and disabilities boarded a Boeing 757 and "flew" to visit Santa and Mrs. Claus at the North Pole ... The plane took off and later arrived at another KCI gate that was decorated to resemble the North Pole ... Chopper was on hand for the Children's Holiday Celebration at Children's Mercy Hospital ... Chopper attended the Friends of Special People Annual Christmas Party for over 1,000 developmentally disadvantaged children and adults ... Chopper attended the Cops for Tots Autograph Signing Party and was a guest at the 9th Annual Millennium 2000 "Christmas on Quindaro" & "Christmas Around the World" ... The goal of the event is to reach 2000 foster, needy and homeless children in the metropolitan area as well as delivering toys and gifts to at least 200 needy children in Africa on Christmas Day ... Defender Nick Garcia will ignite the midnight indoor fireworks display in front of 4000 people at Union Station's New Year's Eve Celebration in downtown Kansas City ... Garcia will accept recognition for the MLS Cup 2000 Championship ... This party lasts all night with bands, fireworks, and the Midwest's largest balloon drop at midnight. Los Angeles Galaxy Los Angeles Galaxy midfielder Danny Pe±a signed autographs and took photos at the Hollenbeck Youth Center toy give-away, which is the largest in Los Angeles ... The Los Angeles Galaxy is adopting 13 families from El Centro de Accion Social in Pasadena and Misi=n Ebenezer Family Church in Carson through a Holiday Assist Program ... Through this program, Galaxy staff adopt families in need and provide them with much needed necessities and gifts for their children ... Mauricio Cienfuegos attended a fundraiser at a church for two young ladies in need of kidney transplants. Cienfuegos conducted interviews, signed autographs and took photos in order to draw attention to the cause. San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes front office along with Supporter fan clubs, Club Casbah, Club Quake, and our Game Day Volunteers are adopting a family from San Jose and providing them with presents and needed items ... This is the Earthquakes' fourth year participating in this program which is organized by Sacred Heart Community Services, San Jose ... Goalkeeper Joe Cannon was on stage with other area professional athletes at the Oakland Ballet's Nutcracker Opening Night at the Paramount Theater in Oakland ... On Dec. 22, Quakes midfielder Dario Brose will be playing soccer games with campers and signing autographs at Off the Wall Soccer's Youth Holiday Skills Camp for 5-12 year old players in Santa Clara. Defender Jamie Clark will make an appearance at the same camp on Dec. 29 ... On Dec. 31 Earthquakes mascot, Rikter, will be present at Radio Disney's Noon Years Eve Millennium Party at the San Jose Convention Ballroom & Exhibition Hall in San Jose which will benefit programs of the Police Athletic League ... Children and adults in attendance will be ringing in the New Year celebrations at 12 o'clock noon instead of 12 midnight.
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