BOTETOURT COUNTY, Va. – The Lord Botetourt High School men’s soccer program honored one of their former players on Monday night.
The second annual Kevin Boeren Memorial soccer game celebrated the life of a teammate. Kevin Boeren was tragically killed in his Orlando home in January 2022.
After losing her son, Gretch Boeren made it her mission to give back to the community. She wanted to make something positive out of tragedy.
“When we came back from dealing with the logistics of the horror in Orlando … again like a phoenix I knew I had to focus my energy on something positive,” Boeren said.
The Boeren’s created the Kevin Boeren Memorial Scholarship Fund through the Greater Lynchburg Foundation. The scholarship goes to multiple seniors across the region, including a couple from Lord Botetourt High School.
Boeren told 10 News they were able to give out $8,000 in scholarships last year.
Taylor Leonard is the current Varsity Men’s Soccer coach at Lord Botetourt. While Leonard got the chance to know Kevin, he knew he wanted to do something to honor him ... thus creating the memorial soccer game where people could donate towards the scholarship.
“Mrs. Boeren – she always talks about Kevin, just his impact within the program and the happiness the soccer team brought to him. For me to be able to give that back to the family and celebrate him, it means so much to me,” Leonard said.
Monday night’s game paid respect to Boeren with a moment of silence before the JV ad Varsity matches. Then at halftime, players with the Read Mountain Middle School boys and girls soccer teams were honored on the field.
Tim Wright currently coaches the boys’ team for Read Mountain Middle but used to be the Lord Botetourt Varsity coach at the time Kevin played.
“Tonight, yeah if anything it’s about soccer. It’s about Kevin absolutely, Kevin’s family…to celebrate him on the same field that he has just given so much of himself over the course of his four years here,” Wright said.
If you want to donate to the Kevin Boeren Memorial Scholarship Fund, you can do so by clicking this link.