Beyond Soccer: Clarke Coach Mike Paye’s Mission to Support Liberia
When recruiting for Clarke Men’s Soccer, Head Coach Mike Paye connects with players from around the world. For the 2024-2025 season alone, the varsity and second-team rosters list student-athletes from 16 different countries, and he has been instrumental in growing the overall international student program at Clarke.
As each of his student-athletes seeks to make Clarke his home away from home, Mike also encourages them to show pride in where they came from. Mike demonstrates this in his own efforts to support communities in his home country of Liberia.
Civil war forced Mike to leave the country as a child. He found success in the United States playing soccer for Tyler Junior College and Creighton University. Following his college graduation, he established himself as the soccer coach for Clarke University, as well as the nearby Peoria City USL2 team. With his career on the rise, Mike felt called to go back to where his story began.
After my first-year coaching at Clarke, I had the opportunity to go back to Liberia. It was life-changing. I knew the poverty was extreme but to see five-year-old children begging on the highways for food was heartbreaking. I knew God brought me back here for a purpose, and it has driven me ever since.
Over the last six years, Mike has sent boxes of food, clothing, and other resources to Liberia whenever he can. These included items he collected personally and donations from his colleagues on the Clarke Athletics staff and beyond.
Initially, Mike was hand delivering items to small villages with the help of his wife, who lives in Liberia with their stepson and one-year-old son. Eventually, he was able to establish connections with a school in Grand Bassa County and a church in Monrovia, Liberia’s capital city, to expand the distribution of donations.
Mike delivers food and clothing to students at a village school in Liberia.
In 2024, Mike has ramped up his efforts with a fundraising drive under the banner of the Amos Foundation, which is named in honor of Mike’s father who was killed in Liberia’s civil war. With the support of the organization Kids Against Hunger, Clarke and Peoria City fans, and additional donors throughout the Midwest, the Amos Foundation has collected nearly $100,000 worth of goods including clothing, food, sports equipment, and religious items such as Bibles to give to villages in Liberia.
The next challenge is to raise the nearly $11,000 needed to send all the materials via a container ship to Liberia in time for the holidays.
“To date, we have raised $2,680 through our fundraising efforts, and with the community’s blessings, we have already secured the large shipping container and begun the loading process,” Mike said. “I just keep saying yes and God continues to provide. I have faith that we can bring more people in and raise the funds needed.”
To learn more about Mike’s project and how you can get involved, see his open letter at https://peoriacitysoccer.com/amos-foundation-providing-resources-to-those-in-liberia/.