Social Activism: @ShayneMoore Is the Global Soccer Mom

by Mom It Forward on April 20th, 2011 | 2 Comments »

What does the phrase "global soccer mom" say to you? To many of you, it probably conjures up the image of a dedicated mom tirelessly supporting her child's involvement on a soccer team, chauffeuring kids, cheering from the sidelines, bandaging scraped knees, and wiping tears. Adding "global" to that image perhaps means such a mom determinedly applying her efforts to children on a global scale, to global problems. Shayne Moore is actually the global soccer mom; she wrote the book on it.

Literally, she did. The book is called Global Soccer Mom. And she blogs at GlobalSoccerMom, passionately advocating for moms to become more involved in the solving of global problems. "We live in a phenomenal time in human history," she says. "[Through social media,] we can have a big conversation about these problems. There is a real groundswell of discussion right now. It needs to grow to actual action."

Shayne herself is a passionate mother of three who got involved nine years ago when Bono came to her hometown of Wheaton, Illinois to talk about AIDS and poverty in Africa, a subject which no one was really discussing back then. She went just to see Bono, but ended up having her life changed, she says. "I came away angry. I had some serious conversations with God." But then she decided she could either feel guilty, mad, and overwhelmed by it, or she could do something about it.

And that she did. Since then, Shayne has joined the Dupage Glocal AIDS Action Network, an advocacy group in her hometown. She also became an original member of the ONE Campaign, a global advocacy group, co-founded by Bono, of over 2 million members committed to fighting extreme poverty and preventable disease especially in Africa. As a result of her advocacy efforts, she was chosen to attend the G8 Summit as a delegate to both Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005, and to St. Petersburg, Russia in 2006, to urge World Leaders to keep their promises to Africa and fully fund AIDS initiatives. In 2007, Shayne was featured in a commercial with Julia Roberts, George Clooney, and Matt Damon. Shayne has been interviewed by CNN, NBC, and was quoted and pictured in The Wall Street Journal (2006). Shayne traveled to Capitol Hill for a photo shoot which was featured in the Africa issue of Vanity Fair (July 2007) with ONE members such as Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, Pastor Rick Warren, Matt Damon, and NAACP chairman Julian Bond. Shayne has traveled to Honduras and to Africa twice to see first-hand the devastating effects of AIDS and extreme poverty on communities there.

Her globe is really big now. But it wasn't always that way. "I wish that someone would've told me that when you have kids, you're world is going to get really small, as well it should. But they should've also told me to let it open back up when I was out of the weeds and my kids were back in school. The boundaries of your life do not limit your involvement. You don't have to run for Congress. You should not underestimate your influence. Nor should you do it alone."

To find out how you can be a global soccer mom too, go to GlobalSoccerMom, or ShayneMoore.com, on Facebook at Global Soccer Mom, and on Twitter @GlobalSoccerMom.

When it comes to social activism, instead of feeling guilty, intimidated, or overwhelmed, how do you raise your voice for change? What efforts or actions have you made to change a wrong to a right?