Activists Gabriel Stauring and Katie-Jay Scott killed in California car crash
- by Paul Kennedy @pkedit, Nov 28, 2021
Gabriel Stauring and his wife, Katie-Jay Scott, the driving forces behind iACT, the non-profit that sets up soccer programs in refugee camps, were killed in a four-vehicle crash Tuesday night in Manhattan Beach, California, near where they lived.
A third person, in another vehicle, was killed in the crash. Two adults were in the hospital in serious condition and a juvenile was in critical condition.
While traveling to refugee camps in Africa, Stauring and Scott came up with the idea for the Refugees United soccer program that provides opportunities for children to play soccer. For many of them, it's the first time they have ever played any kind of game. In the process, they learn teamwork and develop self-confidence.
Soccer America featurediACT and the work of Stauring and Scott in April.
As of early 2021, there were eight academies in 12 camps in eastern Chad; two camps in Tanzania, and one in Cameroon (for refugees from the Central African Republic). Since 2013, the program served 24,000 children. The larger iACT also includes Little Ripples (refugee-led early childhood development and education), and Darfur United, an all-refugee team.
“A measure of what they left behind is the hundreds of people who’ve reached out to us in the last 24 hours and just said ‘What can I do?’” Ben Grossman, a member of the board for iACT, told the Los Angeles Times. “They did so many things that didn’t have a formal title. They would consult on massively important projects, some of which they couldn’t talk about because they were so dangerous.”
Stauring and Scott are survived by two daughters and a son.
RIP
Such a tragedy when people who were doing so much good die so young. Horribly ironic that they work in all these dangerous places and died in a traffic accident in the US.