Portage Teens are starting a nonprofit organization to raise money for young athletes

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Three Portage Central high school athletes came up with an idea for a group that would give more teenage students the opportunity to play sports. It’s been over a year since they started. On Sunday, they held their second annual 5K run to raise funds.

What started as a mission from the DECA club in Portage Central grew from there.

“Now we can take those skills we used in this successful equipment drive and apply them to a sports project,” said Brianna Zhang.

Janelle Yao, Brianna Zhang and Aanya Goel are the founders of Leaders for Youth Sports. A nonprofit organization supporting young athletes in Kalamazoo County.

“I saw a lot of kids dropping out of my tennis lessons because it cost a lot of money. And the same applies to dance. There aren’t many kids who do what I do because it’s so expensive and so unique to this area,” Goel said.

All three girls are athletes themselves and have seen firsthand how the financial demands of sports limit some athletes. Janelle plays travel soccer and often has this conversation with her parents.

“We have to sit down and talk sometimes, look at it from a financial perspective and say: You want to play club football in the spring, but that’s not feasible. Or you want to take a trip to Kansas or Florida and go to a college showcase to potentially get recruited, but you have to take a step back because you realize that airline tickets cost thousands of dollars these days and not everyone just spends it can week to go somewhere far away,” Yao said.

Last year, the girls raised over $7,000 to support youth sports locally and internationally. One of their most successful campaigns was an equipment distribution event where families could select free equipment for their athletes.

“The kids came in and could choose anything they wanted. The way their faces lit up when they walked into that room was incredible to us and I think those moments really motivate us to continue our work,” Zhang said.

Their efforts also extended to Sunday morning’s 5K run in Kalamazoo, where 100 people participated and raised over $1,000 in just a few hours. They never imagined their DECA club idea would grow into a full-fledged nonprofit organization, but they have seen their hard work pay off and continue to see the impact it has had on the people in their community.

“It’s very surreal. it still doesn’t feel real. Because I feel like starting a nonprofit, people think it’s so scary, but I feel like we’ve overcome all the challenges and that’s been pretty awesome,” Yao said.

Leaders for Youth Sports is growing rapidly. The girls plan to expand to other areas in West Michigan and throughout the state within the next year.

“Right now we are heavily focused on the Kalamazoo and Portage areas. Most of our efforts were exclusively in this area. So we’re looking at maybe donating to Detroit Public Schools and working on opening branches across the state, that would be great in the next few years,” Goel said.

If. If you would like to find out more about the group, click here.

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