On Monday, June 29, Up2Us Sports officially welcomed 180 Summer VISTAs to the 2020 Up2Us Sports Summer VISTA Program. 180 VISTAs started their nine-week service term at 100 nonprofit organizations nationwide. Their term will end on Friday, August 28th.

15 of the 180 VISTAs have been serving internally at Up2Us Sports in various capacities. We are excited to have this group of ambitious service members help our team across the nation, which will in turn help us better serve our 1,700+ member organizations, 470+ host sites and 250+ coaches in the days and months ahead.

We wanted you to get to know the 15 VISTAs who have spent their summer helping grow the capacity of Up2Us Sports from within.

Name: Lillian Mercado

Age: 22

What city are you located in?
Atlanta, Georgia

What department within Up2Us Sports are you serving in?
Summer VISTA Cohort Leader

What led you to want to do a service term, particularly right now?
I am passionate about youth development and health disparities that impact youth. With this pandemic, a lot of youth are missing out on the things that are essential to their healthy development. This could be in the form of limited social interactions, poorer quality of education, lack of physical activity, and poor access to the resources they need to succeed, all thanks to the pandemic. I just want to help make sure that none of our youth get left behind during this pandemic and service work is the best way for me to ensure so!

What does national service mean to you?
National service means caring for your community. It means identifying the issues that our communities are facing and gathering the resources and developing programming to address these issues.

What is one thing you hope to take away from your 9 weeks of service?
One thing I hope to take away from my 9 weeks of service is learning more about the behind the scenes work that goes into running a successful non-profit.

Did you play sports and did It have an impact on why you decided to serve at a youth sports organization?
Growing up, I was always involved in sports. Judo, soccer, track and field, and cheerleading. Sports made me feel like I was part of a community and sports pushed me to be better, even in aspects of my life outside of sports. I knew that the hard work I put into sports would translate into hard work at home and in the classroom. Sports had a positive impact on my life. Learning about the mission of Up2Us Sports helped me understand the positive impact that sports had on my life and inspired me to want to ensure that other kids get to experience that, too.