A homeless Richmond soccer player is among those being considered for a chance to represent the U.S. in the Homeless World Cup next month in Italy. Paul Bigstaff transformed an appearance at the Street Soccer USA Cup in Washington into a chance of playing on the international stage. Bigstaff was chosen Sunday to be included in the pool of players available to represent the United States in the Homeless World Cup in Milan, Sept. 6-13.

It wasn’t all about winning during a four-day escape from a life of homelessness. The fourth annual Street Soccer USA Cup, a weekend-long soccer tournament in Washington, offered eight Richmond homeless men an opportunity to leave their makeshift homes—under a bridge, in a car or in a shelter—to find camaraderie in competition. For the Richmond Rebels, the national tournament in the nation’s capital was their Super Bowl and NCAA basketball championship rolled into one event, said Sheron Teal, 33, a lifelong Richmonder who lives in his car.

Twice a week they come from shelters, beneath bridges and the cars in which they sleep to forget their troubles, if only for an hour. Ranging in age from 19 to 58, they run drills, scrimmage, talk a little trash and generally have a good time. They include chefs, electricians and philosophers. They are the Rebels, Richmond’s homeless soccer team.

They are the faceless individuals you don’t see standing on the corner when you’ve stopped at a traffic light. They don’t want to work. They are shiftless and lazy. They are to be avoided. They are to be mistrusted. They are to be arrested for trespassing, for panhandling, for bizarre behavior. They are dirty and dangerous. They have no value. They are the homeless.

The Richmond Memorial Health Foundation recently awarded grants totaling $744,000 to nine organizations focused on women and children’s health; aging and Alzheimer’s disease; and nursing and health education. The foundation’s total grants this fiscal year topped $2,046,000 despite the economy, said Jeffery S. Cribbs, RMHF president. “Our investment pool has experienced some declines over the last year, as [has] everyone’s,“ he said. “Our board felt that now is not the time to curtail our gift commitment to the nonprofit community. For this year, it’s probably greater than the most recent past.“

From school funding, to city buses, to health care for the homeless, traces are appearing of where federal stimulus aid will trickle in to Virginia. Overall, the state is expected to get $4.8 billion from the stimulus, according to a state budget summary provided to Virginia lawmakers. Legislators used about $1.5 billion to help ease a $3.7 billion shortfall in the two-year, $77 billion budget.

Stephen Holc never imagined he’d learn how to market a sports drink and sew in the same class.