JUPITER, Fla. — Two Jupiter teens who have bonded while playing soccer are helping make a difference away from the field.
They have helped young female student-athletes in underserved areas gain access to items others may take for granted. So far they've impacted more than 1,300 young athletes.
The girls, Jessie Baxter, 17, and Holly Milsom, 16, met in an art class during their freshman year of high school and developed a tight bond.
"Then we started playing soccer together in our high school, Jupiter High. From there on, we became pretty much best friends," Baxter said.
In addition to playing on the same high school team, they were also on the same travel team. The duo knows how good cleats and a great game plan can impact winning.
But the two couldn't help but notice that not everyone had the same access to the essentials, including sports bras and underwear. So, they wanted to create an equal playing field, prompting them to start a nonprofit organization called Ta Ta for Now.
"We know what it feels like to be women in sports and not feel comfortable and confident," Baxter said. "We play soccer, so we understand the role that confidence plays in our sport, and from then on, we saw that other girls needed the same confidence that they can sometimes not afford."
The nonprofit collects new bras, underwear and hygiene products for young women.
"We officially got a grant from one of our donors," Baxter said. "From there, we got a lot more networking relationships, and more people were prone to trust us."
Nearing year three of the organization's existence, Ta Ta for Now has collected more than $50,000 and supplied more than 1,000 young women with free hygiene products, bras and underwear. And the girl's good work is not just helping others in Florida.
"We have been able to help five different countries as well," Baxter said. "By doing this, we expanded the amount of girls we could help. We wanted to start in Jupiter because it's where we live, we have a lot of connections here, but from then on we had enough resources that we could other neighborhoods and other countries."
This week, the girls said Christmas came for a second time with the arrival of several boxes of Victoria's Secret underwear shipments thanks to a $35,000 grant.
"We love driving to different places, donating it, packaging everything, unpackaging it," Milsom said. "It's really rewarding."