Max Lawson, 12, sees birthdays as an opportunity to help other children.
Beginning at age 3, the Munster boy has chosen a charity for partygoers to support.
One year, attendees brought shoes for children in Guatemala and the following year the party raised money to purchase 10 baby cribs for an orphanage in the same area of Guatemala.
Lawson saw these needs firsthand when he and his mother, Melissa Lawson, traveled to Guatemala with Hearts in Motion. Lawson was the youngest missionary on that trip. Volunteers worked to build a new school and Lawson gifted students with backpacks filled with school supplies he collected, a total of 30 from his sixth birthday party.
His last party benefited Range of Motion Project, an organization that provides artificial limbs to amputees living in Third World countries. Lawson raised money to provide prosthetic legs for two children. This year, he hopes friends and family alike will open their hearts to Street Soccer USA.
Lawson chose the charitable organization after watching "Kicking It," a documentary about the soccer program which helps the homeless move forward in the game of life. He soon found out there was a team in Aurora, Ill., and has since worked out, helped coach and played with the team.
He and his mother traveled to the National Cup in Washington, D.C. They were invited by Street Soccer USA founder Lawrence Cann. Lawson has memorable accounts of the trip and spending time with players.
"I've always liked soccer and always thought that soccer could help someone somehow," he said. "Street Soccer USA is all about giving people a second chance."
Lawson was honored for the good deeds he's performed in the community through volunteerism with a Kohl's Kids Who Care Scholarship from Kohl's Department Store.
He was nominated for a Volvo for Life Award and featured in Harry Porterfield's Someone You Should Know. He is a seventh-grader at Wilbur Wright Middle School and member of St. Paul Lutheran Church, both in Munster.
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