World Cup watch party forges connections in community

In a collaboration between St. James Catholic School and the Latino Chamber of Commerce, Madison locals gathered for homemade food and a World Cup watch party (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons).

Soccer, although sometimes underappreciated and overlooked, is uniting the Latino community as World Cup celebrations come to Madison. During the tournament’s first weekend, the Latino Chamber of Commerce began a new relationship with the Good Shepherd Catholic Parish when they teamed up to host a World Cup watch party to celebrate the beginning of the global event.

Jennifer Shulla, director of development at St. James Catholic School, explained that in exchange for hosting the chamber's first party, the school was able to put all of the event's proceeds toward the school's scholarship fund.

“It's definitely linked the Latino Chamber of Commerce with our parish and our school, which is awesome,” Shulla says. “It's bringing more outside people in. There's no pressure; it's literally just a fun thing we can share together and watch."

In a collaboration between St. James Catholic School and the Latino Chamber of Commerce, Madison residents gathered for homemade food and a World Cup watch party (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons).

Alex Arango, a member of the Latino Chamber of Commerce board of directors, organized the event after being approached by ESPN Deportes 1510, which helped sponsor the event.

“We wanted to have an actual kick-off event just to gauge interest.” Arango says. “The whole goal was to see what the interest level was, and depending on that see...what can we do differently to change things up a bit and get better turnout.”

Arango, who also has children enrolled at the school, also reached out to St. James Catholic Schoolbecause of its strong relationship with the Hispanic community.

“We have a Latino pastor and a Spanish mass at our St. Joseph site, so it's kind of why we were targeted specifically for this event,” Shulla says.

Shulla explained that the partnership was also ideal because the school has been expanding their social and sports-focused community events.

“This year we did our first tailgate, so when this opportunity presented itself, I was really excited. It's more community building than fundraising, so it takes the pressure off,” Shulla says.

Shulla explained that while theFans watch soccer during a viewing party at St. James School in Madison. The party marked the beginning of a new partnership between the Latino Chamber of Commerce and Good Shepherd Parish (Kait Vosswinkel/Madison Commons) includes both the St. James and the St. Joseph sites, both locations are often viewed as independent. Events like a World Cup watch party enable Shulla and other members of the parish to mingle.

“This has kind of triggered everyone to come together, which is great,” Shulla says. “It's a uniting factor for both sites, and it's a cultural kind of uniter. Who doesn't want to come watch sports together and have beer and eat food?”

As Arango partners with small businesses across the community to publicize other World Cup watch parties, Shulla says she's happy to be a part of the first celebration, and is impressed with the outcome.

Literally the only expectation was to have a good time, to community build and to bring new faces in, which I've already seen,” Shulla says. “It's worked really well.”