Defender sets up Hub365
Shrewsbury Town Defender Omar Beckles has recently set-up his own foundation to help young people in Shropshire and further afield.
The Hub365 Foundation is in memory of Omar’s father, Linton Charles Beckles, the former singer with Jazz Funk band, Central Line, who passed away in 2015.
“In a nutshell, we want to bring about cohesion and bring about opportunities for the younger generation”, said Omar.
“That’s what it is all about and we’ve got dreams of building community centres and multipurpose buildings that can facilitate that.
“But, on a short-term aspect it’s about, how can we impact on certain issues like mental health, how we can bring people together and how can we help a younger generation to be in a better position to have a better future?”
Football has presented Omar with an amazing opportunity to create a better life for himself and his family and he now wants to give other young people the same opportunities.
“It all triggered from my dad passing away and the foundation is in memories of my dad”, continued Beckles.
“When I attended a funeral there was a story about a guy that my dad lent £1,000 of equipment to in an area that was very deprived. For a teenager that could have ended up in gangs, he was excellent for that kid and because of that he became a musician, so that’s what we want.
“We want to pave those opportunities because I could have easily ended up in gang violence, I could have easily ended up either being dead or in prison, but football paved the way for me and there was people in my community that helped me to now be in the position that I’m now in.”
Beckles will work closely with Shrewsbury Town in the Community and he hopes his Foundation can have a big impact on the lives of young people in Shropshire.
“You will see with the advert that we’ve got together that it is all about representing Shropshire and Shrewsbury”, said Omar.
“Recently, I saw in the Shropshire Star that mothers were protesting in Shrewsbury about there not being enough support for the kids in terms of mental health situations and we are hoping that what we can do can bring about more impact because we’ve been given a platform as footballers and people look up to us, so we’ve got to use that for a greater good.”