A local soccer club is hosting a fundraising gala next month.
Surrey United Soccer Club will hold their “Foundations and Futures Gala” at Mirage Banquet Hall April 5. The semi-formal event will help fund the new 37,000 sq. ft. indoor training pitch the club is building at Cloverdale Athletic Park. Construction crews are set to break ground on the indoor facility in a few months and the building is expected to be completed by the summer of 2026.
Ali Wilkinson, president of Surrey United Soccer Club, said ticket sales for the gala are going well and the club already has a lot of sponsorship support for the event.
“This is a big fundraiser for us for this building, but it's also an opportunity for us to bring the community together,” Wilkinson said. “We see this building as a community piece. We’ve been here almost 60 years. So this [gala] is a ramp up to introducing Surrey United, and who Surrey United is now, compared to 60 years ago.”
Surrey United will celebrate their 60th anniversary in three years, having been formed in 1968 when they began playing games out of Newton’s Unwin Park.
Wilkinson said the gala will be a celebration of the past, present, and future of the club. She said they'll have old photos, there will be interviews with past board members, and others that have helped build the club in the Surrey community. They will also have an interview with Travis Selje’s dad, Miki.
“Travis was a big part of our family,” she added. “Yes, it's just soccer, but sport impacts kids—regardless of whether it's soccer, football, baseball, whatever—we're all part of Cloverdale.”
She said the club is trying to convey that community partnership through the gala.
“We're building something for the future,” Wilkinson explained. “We feel it will benefit the community, will benefit youth today—by keeping kids off the streets and out of gangs and gang situations—and keep them fully engaged in sport. So this community gala is really intended to be for the community, not just Surrey United.”
She said they will have a lot of alumni out at the gala, but they're also hoping the wider community embraces the event and comes out to represent their community and their respective sports.
The Foundations and Futures Gala has a casino-night theme. Wilkinson said there’ll be gaming tables, including: blackjack, poker, and roulette. They'll have both live and silent auctions where gala-goers can bid on both items and experiences. And they’ll have a DJ spinning tracks all night. In addition to dinner and dessert, she noted Mainland Whisky will run a whisky bar at the event.
Wilkinson said they expect to have about 400 people at the gala, with Mayor Brenda Locke and some councillors in attendance as well.
All proceeds from the Foundations and Futures Gala will fund the new indoor training centre. The silent auction will begin March 23 and a link will be up on surreyunitedsoccer.com once the auction is live.
For more info on the gala, or to grab some tickets, visit surreyunitedsoccer.com, click on "Events," and then "2025 Gala Event."
