Monterey Bay Football Club (Monterey Bay F.C.) joined forces with Blue Zones Project Monterey County (BZPMC) on Tuesday, February 22, for a clean-up event at the Salinas Soccer Complex in Salinas, California. The clean-up marked the first community event for the club’s players as the Union continue to embrace and invest in this region that we call home.
In addition to the nearly 50 volunteers at the event, Monterey Bay F.C. players Chase Boone, Rafael Díaz, Mobi Fehr, Walmer Martínez and Hugh Roberts were all in attendance to assist in the clean-up, take pictures with the fans and sign autographs. As the event wrapped up for the night, BZPMC raffled off the first official Monterey Bay F.C. team-signed soccer ball.
“This was my first community outreach event and it was exciting,” said Fehr, a midfielder for Monterey Bay F.C. “It’s always good to reach out to the community because they are the number one supporters of the team. So being here with the fans and doing good in the community feels great. I think it’s super important for us to do this type of stuff and I look forward to doing more.”
The clean-up took place as a part of Blue Zones Project Monterey County’s initiative to host community clean-ups on the last Tuesday of every month.
“Monterey Bay F.C. teaming up with Blue Zones Project Monterey County is important for bringing the community together,” explained BZPMC Senior Marketing Manager Veronica Plascencia. “Monterey Bay F.C. is helping us bring awareness to how much need there is in our community, and it also adds a level of pride. When we do something in our community, we feel proud of it and we’re proud to have our local team out here today. It’s all about making that connection with the community and making a difference.”
Blue Zones Project Monterey County is a community-led, well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to an area’s environment, policy and social networks. Two of the Blue Zones Project Monterey County sponsors, Montage Health and Taylor Farms, are also Proud Partners of Monterey Bay F.C.
“It’s great to see the community come out and be a part of something bigger,” explained Martínez, a forward for Monterey Bay F.C. “We’re helping to clean the community and make sure it looks beautiful for the people who live here and anyone who visits. They deserve to have a clean community and I’m super happy to be a part of it. I’ll be coming out and supporting as much as possible. I loved seeing all the people, all of the kids that came out. I was glad to have some of the guys out here helping out as well. It was an amazing thing to see people come together for one big cause to help their community, I loved it.”
Martínez continued, “This is what we stand for as a club, to go out into our community and get involved in as many ways as possible. We’re a club that is for the people. We’re here to represent the communities that surround us so being out here and doing everything that we can is something that we aspire to do more often.”
