NEW YORK – Popular community man and respected Vancouver police officer Kal Dosanjh was named the Major League Soccer finalist for the 2019 MLS WORKS Community MVP Contest.
This week Dosanjh was flown out to Orlando, Florida along with his crew of Kiran Toor, Amarjit Dhadwar and Jasraj Toor and recognized on-field during halftime of the 2019 MLS All-Star.
The MLS WORKS Community MVP recognizes individuals using soccer to make a difference in their community. The Grand Prize winner, voted on by fans, was announced on-field during halftime of the 2019 MLS All-Star Game presented by Target at Exploria Stadium in Orlando on Wednesday, July 31, and received a $25,000 donation for their selected charity.
Although Dosanjh’s KidsPlay didn’t get the grand prize but they still received $1000 for their founder’s efforts.
Dosanjh was part of 24 finalists have been chosen, one representing each MLS club. Finalists were selected for making a positive impact in one of the following areas:
Social issues focusing on inclusion, diversity and equality
Health issues affecting men, women or children
Community service for a local, national or international charitable organization
Sustainability efforts to create a cleaner, healthier environment
ABOUT KAL DOSANJH
Kal Dosanjh is the founder of the Kids Play Youth Foundation. Kal’s call to service started more than 20 years ago as he began his career in law enforcement, including having served as a patrol officer for 15 years in the Downtown Eastside, one of the most volatile areas of Western Canada. He has also worked on the Firearms Interdiction Team, as a Drug Squad investigator, Undercover Operator, Acting Sergeant on the riot squad, in addition to assisting on large-scale investigations, including homicides, robberies, and serious assaults and is now a Senior Detective in the Financial Crime Unit.
As a family man and father of two, Kal founded the Kids Play Foundation, a nonprofit organization working towards keeping youth away from negative influences such as drugs, gangs, and violence through sports and education. Through the organization, he is able to provide free programs to the larger community as a whole. Kal is someone who recognizes the inherent value in providing sports and education programs to youth for the purpose of instilling strong fundamental habits and qualities – teamwork, dedication, perseverance, and much more.
Since its inception in 2015, Kids Play has put over 60,000 kids through entirely free programming such as organized sports, conferences, after school programs with the Surrey, Abbotsford and Langley school boards, as well as other miscellaneous projects. There are over 500 youth volunteers who have joined the organization. All Kids Play programs are free of cost and run solely by volunteers. Kal himself runs the organization in a volunteer capacity. A small soccer tournament which he started almost a decade ago, has turned into an annual Vancouver Whitecaps FC supported tournament held at BC Place Stadium, which hosted just shy of 800 kids, and over 300 youth volunteers, in 2019.
