The players at the FCBEscola Florida and their family members led a food drive in benefit of the victims of Hurricane Matthew in Haiti last week, during which they collected 40 boxes filled with food, water, and clothing intended to provide relief to the inhabitants of the impoverished Caribbean nation.
Michael Castiella, the Director of the FCB Escola in Florida, which is located in Fort Lauderdale, said "the link between the school and Haiti stems largely from our relationship with our Haitian coach Stephane Guillaume, who will personally deliver everything that has been collected at our facilities over the past several days."
Guillaume, who played for the Haitian national team and the Colorado Rapids of the MLS, has been a coach at the school for two seasons.
Born in Saint-Marc in 1984, he was part of the Haiti team that hosted Ronaldinho’s Brazil in a 2004 friendly played in Port-au-Prince for the benefit of UNICEF.
Guillaume also runs an academy in his hometown, which he said is intended “to return what football has given me to the community of my people and to help the children there.”
The Stephane Guillaume Academy — which currently has 90 players — runs an annual charity match with other Haitian football stars, not just to improve the academy, but to provide aid to the island’s orphans and disabled. This year, however, the match will be “to help the victims of Hurricane Matthew.”
