Our Story
Our Story
How share ONE love began
It's hard to believe this all started back in the summer of 2008 when my twin Wynne and my best friend Michael were on a trip to Nicaragua. They witnessed firsthand the power that sport has to supersede the language barrier and build an avenue of connection with the young people in their midst – simply by placing a ball on the street. In May of 2013, we took the steps to make share ONE love a nonprofit organization focused on changing the world through sport, what resulted was our lives being radically changed. Through opportunities provided by Sri Lanka Unites and Global Unites, we got to experience sport being used as an entryway into deeper conversations of healing and reconciliation. Those experiences transformed everything about the organization and in 2017 we made a conscious step to begin working with young people on the margins in our own community. Since 2017, we've conducted sport-based programming inside secure South Carolina Department of Juvenile Justice facilities. We believe deeply that sport has the power to help our young people feel safe and heal on a biological level, something we've learned from the work of Dr. Bruce Perry and the Center for Healing and Justice Through Sport. Through our programs, we strive to use sport as a tool to help justice-involved youth propel a different story forward. We've been humbled by the opportunities placed before us and we don't ever see that changing.
'Sport has the power to change the world.' – Nelson Mandela
Leadership
Our Founder's Story
share ONE love didn't start in a boardroom. It started on a field—in conversations with young people who had been written off by a system that was never designed for their healing.
"I kept seeing the same pattern: kids who were brilliant, creative, and full of potential—but trapped in environments that punished instead of healed."
Jordan Thomas (JT) spent years working inside South Carolina's juvenile justice system, watching firsthand how isolation and trauma compounded the challenges these youth already faced. The science was clear: connection is biological. Without it, healing doesn't happen.
But connection doesn't come from worksheets or lectures. It comes from shared struggle, rhythmic movement, and the kind of controlled challenge that sport provides naturally. A soccer ball. A baseball bat. A sprint down a field. These aren't distractions—they're the key.
"Sport gave them something the system never could: a chance to be seen as athletes, teammates, and human beings—not case numbers."
Today, JT leads share ONE love as we partner with SCDJJ facilities across the Columbia area to deliver structured, sport-based programming rooted in the Neurosequential Model of Sport—helping justice involved youth find calm and build resilience toward a future they can believe in.
University Partnership
USC Club
Through the initiative of students at the University of South Carolina, a share ONE love club was created on the campus in the spring of 2023. As a result, we've seen an outpouring of support of volunteers from the USC student community. During the fall and spring semesters, students enter Columbia-area SCDJJ facilities to play games and connect with the youth on Saturday mornings. Each year the club has grown exponentially, but has also been a conduit for connection of other USC student organizations to pour into the lives of South Carolina's justice-involved youth. Without their unwavering support, we would not be where we are today as an organization.
Governance
Our Board
Board members coming soon.
Our board is on hold until the new board is finalized next fiscal year. Check back for updates.
Watch