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MSD Grad, Now Sprouts Employee, Gives Back to Parkland Buddy Sports

by Faran Fagen October 20, 2025

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MSD Grad, Now Sprouts Employee, Gives Back to Parkland Buddy Sports 3

Right to Left: Sprouts employees Amy Meeks, a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and Ken Huelsman, a Sprouts Farmer’s Market manager in Deerfield Beach, presented a $2,000 check to Parkland Buddy Sports. Coach Joe De Baraga. {Faran Fagen}

On Saturday, at the opening of Parkland Buddy soccer season at Park Trails Park, the hundreds of athletes, buddies, and their families met with some special guests.

Sprouts employees Amy Meeks, a graduate of Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, and Ken Huelsman, a Sprouts Farmer’s Market manager in Deerfield Beach, presented a $2,000 check to Parkland Buddy Sports, along with their usual donation of food and drinks.

Meeks, a longtime Buddy while she was at Douglas, first reached out to Parkland Buddy Sports about two years ago in response to an alumni email. She shared that she worked at Sprouts and inquired about snacks and water for their programs, generously offering to donate both.

That small act of kindness grew into a tradition: for the past two years, Meeks has delivered loads of fresh fruit, healthy snacks, and cases of water to every session – football, soccer, running, basketball, tennis, pickleball, and kickball.

Meeks didn’t stop there — she also applied for the $2,000 Healthy Seeds Donation, which Sprouts stores award to local nonprofits or schools to support nutrition education and healthy living.

This wasn’t the first time Meeks was instrumental in raising funds for the organization she loved volunteering for in high school. She also nominated Parkland Buddy Sports for a Sprouts Healthy Community Grant. Through that process, Parkland Buddy Sports was awarded $10,000 from the Sprouts Foundation Community Grant in its first year.

“The grant funds from Sprouts go directly toward supporting Parkland Buddy Sports, covering expenses such as sports equipment, uniforms and jerseys, medals and ice cream, maintaining our golf cart, insurance, and website,” said Wendy Hunter, a longtime member of the Parkland Buddy Sports Board of Directors. “The funds also aid marketing and communications for special events like the annual Valentine’s Dance, and fundraisers including the Golf Tournament and Pickleball Invitational.”

In addition, Sprouts continues to donate hundreds of dollars in fruit and water weekly, ensuring healthy snack options for all players, volunteers, and the broader Parkland Buddy Sports community.

Based in the City of Parkland since 2002, Parkland Buddy Sports, Inc. is a non-profit providing organized peer-to-peer sports programming for children and young adults with special needs and volunteer opportunities for students.

Its motto, “No Limits,” means that every player, volunteer, and coach has the chance to reach their full potential every time they step on the field or court with the program.

Parkland Buddy Sports is run by a volunteer board of directors and is fully funded by corporate and individual donations. They do not receive any additional subsidized funding.

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Author Profile

Faran Fagen

Faran Fagen, who teaches high school journalism, graduated from the University of Missouri-Columbia with a Journalism degree and from Florida Atlantic University with a degree in Education. He's worked at The Palm Beach Post, SunSentinel, and MLB.com. He lives in Coral Springs with his wife and two children. Oh, and his three dogs -- who all think that they're his favorite.