Everyone knows someone who is involved in some sort of charity work. Whether it be ringing bells for the Salvation Army during the holidays, participating in Relay for Life or even donating to the Goodwill, many people help out with charities. But there aren’t too many who make their own non-profit charities.

This is what sets senior Scott Mills apart from most good Samaritans. He, along with Emily Baer, a freshman at Dartmouth University, founded Play it Forward.

“Essentially, we collect soccer balls and jerseys to send to impoverished Ugandan kids in orphanages and schools,” Mills said. “I’ve collected 723 balls so far, which I just sent over [to Uganda].”

Like most people, Mills has been aware of the vast poverty outside of the United States, which is the reason he began collecting soccer gear.

“I remember in middle school seeing a presentation from Sister Schools [a prominent non-profit organization] and seeing these kids in Uganda playing soccer. Only they weren’t using a real soccer ball. It was just a few plastic bags tied together,” Mills said.

Mills did not begin his project, though, until last spring.

“I didn’t really understand what poverty meant until around sophomore year. Collecting the balls is just a culmination of all my years playing soccer, having the World Cup in Africa, where I was reminded of the real poverty there and the love of soccer and having a much more real understanding of poverty,” Mills said.

His passion for this cause helped him power through the ups and downs of collecting balls and money.

“I contacted my friends, family, the Seattle Youth Soccer Association and lots of people in my community,” Mills said. “It was really hard to get people to respond and lost of people told me that they couldn’t help because they don’t have soccer stuff.”

But that did not deter him. Instead, he began to think on a bigger scale.

“I contacted Peter Fewing, the Seattle University soccer coach, through his daughter [junior] Gabby Fewing and he made a large donation. I got 50 balls from Score Sports in California,” Mills said. “And through a friend of mine, I contacted Alan Mulally, the CEO of Ford, and he sent me a $1000 check.”

With each ball costing $10, the donation from Ford supplied 100 of the 723 balls Mills sent over to Uganda along with a shipment to the area from Sister Schools. For Mills, though, this is only the beginning.

“Emily and I are trying to get Play it Forward to 501(c)(3) status, which means that it is a certified non-profit and we would get tax exemptions,” Mills said.

But with Baer currently away at college and Mills heading off next year, he hopes to bring more people into the organization and encourages any students to contact him if interested.

“Most people at Ballard take things for granted and don’t really understand what living on one dollar per day really means. Soccer is a big part of their culture and a soccer ball is a powerful message,” Mills said. “A kid may be poor, but giving him or her the ability to play soccer is really valuable.”