The Fishtown Athletic Club (Fishtown A.C.), located in the Shissler Recreation Center at 1800 Blair St., is a local club that has been around since 1964. It is a sports organization that places kids ages 3 -17 into competitive baseball, softball, basketball and soccer leagues. Pat Cain, 68, is the in-house director of the club and has been giving back to Fishtown A.C. for about 44 years. He recalls his football coach from St. Michael’s when he was in sixth grade as the reason Cain started giving back.

“It was [my coach],” Cain said. “He would give a lot to the kids. I saw it was a nice thing to do and I have been doing it ever since.”

Cain is also known for running We Care Soccer Camp — a week-long program that takes place every summer during the last week of July. It is a free and volunteer-based summer camp where kids ages 3 – 11 learn different soccer skills. Once a child turns 12 they are eligible to come back and help coach younger campers for the next couple of years. Approximately 50 kids showed up to the first We Care Soccer Camp in 1994. 21 years later, camp participation has more than tripled to about 170 children.

Campers are served free lunches that are either donated or bought from funds raised by the community. On the last day of camp, kids receive a free t-shirt and a free soccer ball. Additionally, five awards are given to recognize community members who are inducted into the Fishtown A.C. Hall of Fame that Cain started.

“Fishtown has always been behind my program,” Cain said. “They always get me back and then I give to the kids and it keeps going,” Cain said.

The camp is funded by donations and additional aid comes from SugarHouse Casino and The Penn Treaty Special Services District. While Cain is the primary organizer and coach, he mentioned Tim Breslin as someone who helped advocate for We Care Soccer Camp from 2005 until he passed away in May 2015.

Cain gives many people credit for helping him start this program, but one dear, old friend really sticks out. “Stan the Cut Man Field” — a small, artificial turf field that Cain’s campers and Fishtown A.C. members play and practice on — is named in memory of Stanley Maliszewski, a Fishtown firefighter that helped start the soccer camp alongside Cain. Maliszewski told Cain that if he found neighborhood kids who wanted to play soccer that Maliszewski would be able to find the money to fund it. The two did just that.

After Maliszewski died of cancer, Cut Man Field was opened for use by different teams for various programs. Cain is trying to renovate the area to make it a nicer space for everyone. Every Monday morning he comes over to field and cleans up the area of the garbage from the weekend so that the space is clear for anyone who wants to use it for the upcoming week. No one has to pay for the field, but Cain makes sure that as many people have an opportunity to use it as possible. Others have noticed Cain’s commitment to the field and have pitched in to help as well. Fishtown A.C. and its President Sean Murphy recently helped adorn the field with lights.

Cain would like the community’s help in making Cutman Field outside of Shissler Recreation Center an even better community space. He hopes to get a food stand placed by the field to make a profit off of food sales when the field is in use. Cain said he would also allow people outside of the Fishtown A.C. to use the food stand for their own games, free of charge. He appreciates all that Fishtown and the community have done from the donations and the lights that have been added to Stan the Cutman Field, but he knows there is still a lot of work to be done.

“What I hope for is that if something were to happen someday, that somebody will take this over,” Cain said.