Would you give up your prized possession to help those in need? This 7-year-old boy did! He gave up his favorite jersey in order to help families in Puerto Rico affected by the recent devastating hurricanes.
Alex Ibarra is a big-time soccer fanatic and has an impressive collection of 54 different jerseys. Out of all of them, there is one that he holds dearest to his heart, an autographed Christian Pulisic jersey from the American Outlaws Oakland team.
Ibarra had got his hands on the autographed jersey during the March World Cup in San Jose, CA. Following Hurricanes Irma, Maria, and then Puerto Rico’s he decided it was a brilliant idea to raffle off the jersey for money to benefit hurricane relief efforts.
Here’s a raffle update from the li’l guy who started it all, our Jr. Capo, Alex! & you can still buy tickets here:https://t.co/TfvQzejihJ pic.twitter.com/8wGK2vmLZV
— AO Oakland (@AOOakland) October 4, 2017
“I’m raffling it off because I’m trying to raise money for the Puerto Ricans that don’t have food and water,” Alex said. “Puerto Rico’s really important to me because they’re one of our territories.”
Eventually, word got around to Christian Pulisic himself.
Pulisic took it into his own hands to respond to Ibarra via video. In his video, he said he would send him a new autographed jersey and make a donation himself to follow in his philanthropic footsteps.
A young fan donated his @cpulisic_10 jersey to benefit #PuertoRicoRelief. Word got back to the 🇺🇸 star.
Learn more: https://t.co/U6SiQDowfM pic.twitter.com/bal2RDfBjj
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 7, 2017
At AO Oakland’s viewing party for a match against Panama, Ibarra was star struck and speechless when he finally saw the video of his forever idol thanking him for his selflessness and generosity.
Ibarra raffle raised roughly around $3,300 for the Hispanic Federation UNIDOS Disaster Relief Fund.
7-year-old Alex watched @cpulisic_10‘s message at the @AOOakland party.
His reaction ⤵️. pic.twitter.com/9mJxKac3Jb
— U.S. Soccer (@ussoccer) October 7, 2017
Quakes superfan Alex Ibarra auctioning his signed @cpulisic_10 jersey at @AOOakland rally tonight for #PuertoRico: https://t.co/3H1G58VkgM pic.twitter.com/BwUOHWHGl6
— San Jose Earthquakes (@SJEarthquakes) October 6, 2017
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