TOLEDO, Ohio — An Elmore woman is still unsure how she’ll get home from Honduras. She was coaching a football team in a tournament down there when the country closed its borders due to the coronavirus.
Mitchi Collette is a coach for the American Football Events USA All-Stars.
“Pretty much, we’ll be here another seven days. They put everyone on lockdown for another seven days as far as I know they’ve locked down everything outside," Collette said.
The team was not expecting to spend this amount of time or money to remain in Honduras and is currently trying to fundraise while overseas to continue purchasing food, doing laundry and stay in their hotel.
“They did give us a humongous discount which is really helpful. We do have a roof over our head and we are getting food in our stomachs and our coach is keeping everyone busy," Collette said.
The players and coaches stuck in Honduras are from 23 different states. They say everyone in Honduras has been extremely kind to them.
“Great spirits. Of course, everyone wants to go home. Many of my players are Mom’s and would love to see their family. We would all like to see our family," Collette said.
AFE is a non-profit organization and the All-Stars group represents them internationally where they not only play but give back to the community.
"We always do a good community event with a lot of children, homeless shelters, battered women and stuff like that," Collette said.
Now, with a global pandemic keeping them in place, they are asking for help.