Recently (July, 2010) a group of 10 members from Unity Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill, South Carolina, traveled to Honduras on a mission trip through PC USA. They carried a supply of soccer balls, shoes, cones from Peace Passers to the children there. This Presbyterian team helped build houses in a small village called Copantle, in the Department of Copan. Some of the balls were given to the school in this community.

Emily Morris of Unity Presbyterian Church in Fort Mill, SC presents a soccer ball to the children of the small community of Copantle in Honduras. Soccer equipment provided by Peace Passers were donated to the school in Copantle.

The majority of the equipment from Peace Passers, along with shirts and shoes brought by the Unity team were give to a boy’s home in Tegucigalpa, the capital of Honduras. The boy’s home, called El Hogar Diamante, provides training in a safe, educational environment for orphaned boys and for boys whose families cannot care for them. “The soccer balls brought great joy to the children we met in Honduras. We were thankful for the partnership with Peace Passers,” stated Joyce Sullivan, the leader of the Unity team.

A big HAPPY BIRTHDAY and thank you to Alex from Riverside, CA for collecting brand new soccer balls at his recent birthday party to be donated to the PeacePassers. We are always excited to hear from young soccer fans who recognize their ability to give back to the game. In planning for donating to our organization, his mom Mary tells us “The fact that it was soccer related was perfect since he had a soccer birthday party.” Seven year-old Alex shipped the 7 new soccer balls, cones, and pump to a member of our PeacePassers family, Cameron Cooper in San Francisco, CA. Alex’s soccer balls will then be headed to a school in Fort Portal, Uganda on August 18 with a group organized by the Global Nurse Initiative (www.globalnurseinitiative.org). Thanks to Nicole Stannard, RN & Clinical Director for GNI in volunteering to meet up with Cam & take these soccer balls to the school kids in Uganda. Another stellar example is set, in giving back to the beautiful game!

The 2010 Peace Seminar included 19 global representatives from YMCAs in the Middle East, Europe, North America, Latin America and Africa. The participants were selected by their YMCA national movements to take part in the Seminar in Madrid, Spain May 3rd -10th. We are proud to support Candace Cooper (PeacePasser’s Director) as she was selected to represent the YMCA of the USA. “This was an extremely unique opportunity to engage with Peace leaders from across the world and learn about their diverse cultural & global realities” explained Candace.

The weeklong seminar included workshops & discussions surrounding the content of community development, globalization, immigration, intercultural perceptions, youth issues, poverty, & the education for peace. Guided by the leadership of Juan Simoes (General Secretary, YMCA España) the group engaged in workshops on connectedness and programming to promote & foster peace in youth. We’d like to thank Juan for giving Candace the opportunity to speak about the work of PeacePassers to the international group as an avenue to connect people locally and globally through the game of soccer. Thanks goes out to our new fans from Lebanon, Palestine, Russia, Italy, Argentina, Egypt, Spain, Senegal, Bosnia, Romania, Macedonia, Spain, and USA for spreading the good word of PeacePassers!

And of course, we can’t forget to congratulate Spain the 2010 World Cup Champions! ¡Viva España!

Kick-off the 2010 World Cup with PEACEPASSERS and CELTIC CROSSING in Memphis, TN. Saturday, June 12th Watch USA v ENGLAND and other matches LIVE beginning at 0630 CST. Also be sure to check out the simultaneous events @ The British Pub in St. Augustine, FL and Buona Vita in Charlotte, NC. For more details visit: www.facebook.com/peacepassers then click on the ‘EVENTS’ tab

We’d like to give a special thank you to Team Phoenix in Albuquerque,  New Mexico for their dedication in donating soccer equipment to PeacePassers. We greatly appreciate the leadership of the Salinas Family as well as the friends & family involved in collecting new & used equipment. The young players on this team are setting an admirable example in showing us that everyone can contribute to spreading the joy of soccer worldwide!