Women’s Team Brings Home the Gold!

Shout out to the Peace Passers Women’s Team for bringing home 1st place gold at the North American Sand Soccer Championships. For the 3rd year in a row the team from Charlotte, NC has traveled to Virginia Beach, VA with a mission to represent the organization and share the message of what Peace Passers is all about. While they are at it, bringing their A game too!

team photoThe ladies had 4 strong wins and impressive stats with 29 goals and only 1 goal against. It is an honor and priviledge to continue playing the game with friends that help represent the positive vibes of Peace Passers both on and off the pitch!
Congratulations and cheers to all the teams represented in the 2014 NASSC!

It’s a Party with a Purpose

Take a look at all the “presents” Logan collected for her 9 year-old birthday! For the past 3 years in lieu of gifts for her birthday, Logan has chosen a charity to support. She has donated to a local children’s hospital twice, the Make a Wish Foundation, and this year she chose Peace Passers as her charity of choice. She and her 2 sisters are avid soccer players and all play on competitive teams in their hometown. At her birthday party, Logan’s friends brought new and used soccer gear and also raised $205 dollars for Peace Passers. Anytime funds are collected in addition to the equipment it is a huge help for our organization to continue doing this good work. Logan will ship her donated birthday presents to Ballston Lake, NY where the soccer equipment will then be distributed to Uganda via a collaborative organization The Giving Circle. A very special thank you happy birthday to Logan! If you or someone you know is interested in hosting a fundraiser collection please email peacepassersinfo@gmail.com to get started.

Covenant Day School Passes the Peace to Haiti

Thanks to friend & fellow baller Farrell O’Quinn (Charlotte, NC) for volunteering to pick up 22 Peace Passers soccer balls and include them in the packing plans for their trip to Haiti in February. A team of 12 students and 4 teachers from Covenant Day School www.covenantday.org traveled over their winter break to serve at an orphanage Jeremie. Farrell has traveled internationally numerous times before but this time she said “We usually don’t get to spend a solid week with the same group of kids like we did this time in Haiti. It makes it hard to leave but I love the relationships you are able to form.”

When it came to incorporating the soccer balls she explained “We mainly played inside of the church on a concrete slab because the terrain where we were was very steep and rocky, which makes for an interesting game of soccer! But it was great being able to leave the balls for the orphanage to use. Thank you SO much Peace Passers!”

Super-Athlete Ryan Sharing the Gift of Giving for his Birthday Party

Sports are a big part of 8 year-old Ryan’s daily activities. Everyday you can find Ryan (from Lewis Center, Ohio) playing soccer, football, basketball and baseball with his best friends. Knowing how important sports are to him, Ryan decided for his 8th birthday party he would ask his guests to bring donations instead of gifts for him.

Ryan’s mom Stacie explained, “Of course, he wanted his collection to be sports-related!  He was so excited when we found your Peace Passers organization online.  This was a perfect fit!  His friends were excited to be doing something for other kids, and we talked at the party about trying to imagine what it would be like to not have soccer balls to play with. They all thought that it was great that other kids would now be able to enjoy the game that they all love so much.  Through Peace Passers these 25 kids have experienced that the world is bigger than themselves, and I know it will stay with them for a lifetime!”

Ryan said he is happy and feels “awesome” because of “the smiles it will bring to their faces when they see the soccer balls.”  He is super excited to know now where they will be going!”

This week Ryan and his family will be shipping the soccer balls to Matt Mullane in Texas. Matt is a 2nd-year medical student at the University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio. Along with 20 volunteers from the Project Haiti-San Antonio the group will be treating patients in the Dominican Republic, and will also be working with Haitian patients who come to the get medical services. Several of the soccer balls will be going to a small village called “Batey 40.”

Last year Matt took Peace Passers soccer balls to the Dominican and Haiti, through his mission work he has experienced first hand the joy a soccer ball can bring. We are excited that Ryan’s soccer balls will reach such a deserving area again this year.

We’d like to wish Ryan a very Happy 8th Birthday from the Peace Passers. Keep strong with your play on the sports fields and know that your giving is an inspiration that is heard around the world!

Alex celebrates his 7th Birthday with PeacePassers style!

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!

2010 YMCA Seminar on the Education for Peace in Madrid, Spain

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!

World Cup Kick-Off Parties

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

New Jersey teen Lucas Weissman sets example in youth leadership

the sports academy weisman

New Jersey teen Lucas Weissman sets example in youth leadership 13-year old Lucas Weissman from Milburn, New Jersey organized a PeacePassers fundraiser at the Sports Academy (www.the-sports-academy.com) on June 24th, 2009. The event was to raise awareness and collect soccer supplies for PeacePassers.  With this event Lucas took the opportunity to encourage his friends to participate in giving back to the game. Along with nearly 50 Millburn classmates and Ironbound Soccer Club teammates, they collected more than 25 soccer balls, 3 dozen pair of cleats, numerous soccer socks, shin guards, uniforms, goalie equipment, whistles, & cones. All will be shipped to the PeacePassers headquarters to then find a home with children around the world. The PeacePassers Team would like to thank Mark & Julie Weissman for helping to coordinate this memorable event!