Influential Athlete: Simone Biles
Simone Biles is the influential athlete for this edition. She’s a gymnast for the USA Olympic team. Simone has partnered with the Friends of Children charity. The organization works with youth who have been exposed to a great deal of adversity. Friends of the Children provides children with a professional mentor that is knowledgeable about working with kids that have severe trauma. The full-time job of these mentors otherwise called “friends” is to uplift, support, and empower youth and their caregivers. Friends of The Children partners with local community organizations, schools and foster care systems to help identify children between the ages of 4-6 who would benefit the most from a mentor. Simone was a child in the foster care system which put her in similar shoes to most of these children. Due to her past, she was very motivated to partner with this charity. She wanted these kids to get the resources that she never really had access to. She has hosted multiple events with this charity in various states. At one of her events in Houston, she stressed the importance of education and goal setting and how it can help these children improve their lives.
—Cheyenne Schreiner
Photo by an unknown photographer, licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC-ND.