(Jerseys donated for Peace Passers by University of Albany, NY Men’s Soccer Team)

Dear Peace Passers,

I wish you could have personally seen the great joy that your donations of soccer balls and gear brought to the children of Kagoma Gate and Busoga villages in Uganda. Kagoma Gate was deemed by the Ugandan Government in 2008 to be the poorest village in all of Uganda. Busoga is very near the bottom of that list. These children were first in shock, then amazed, then broke into very loud cheers of happiness and celebration when they realized that they were getting new clothes, shoes, and play equipment.

The soccer clothes replaced badly torn, threadbare, and ill fitting garments and have become the new clothing (the only set of clothing) for each person who received them. I saw them wearing these clothes every day with great pride. They have never even had shoes before. The soccer equipment gave them a chance to be children, to just play and laugh, a very bright spot in their very difficult days of trying just to survive the harsh conditions under which they live. We constructed soccer nets so the setting for playing a game was complete. And Busoga now has an official soccer team complete with matching uniforms.

Football as they call it there is THE sport of choice. They were grinning ear to ear as they donned the jerseys, T shirts, shorts, socks and shoes and formed teams. The sound of pure happiness filled the air. Thank you – each of you truly made a difference in the lives of these children. You brought radiant smiles to their faces, gave them a means to make their days a little more bearable, and clothed their bodies in what they considered great finery. Your warm hearts touched many across the continents. Thank you, thank you, thank you for caring and sharing. Testimony written by Denise Stasik with The Giving Circle Africa

Kyle Trumble, coach of the U-19 team for AYSO region 172 is hosting a jersey drive for PeacePassers. On the last day of games he will have a collection booth at pioneer park for anyone who is willing to donate their jerseys, new or old, for a good cause. Bring a shirt to change into after your last game and drop your jersey off on the way out.

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“It is a great way to share the game of soccer with kids around the World. They are a great organization and I would really appreciate all the help I can get. If anyone has any questions you can email me at ktrumble.flagler.edu or call (307) 349-6087”

Kyle Trumble – PeacePasser

For more info about this event and to RSVP or share with friends in the Prescott, AZ area please visit facebook.com/peacepassers
and click on the ‘Events’ tab

Payton Rudnick, a Tucson soccer player for many years, realized that many kids worldwide would love to have the soccer experience but just needed some good equipment. Payton spent time researching for an organization that he could team-up with that accepted equipment and then distributed it throughout the world. He found Peace Passers and contacted us about setting up his project.

Payton’s Mitzvah project is to bring joy to other kids around the world by raising $2500, 250 soccer balls, and 250 team jerseys and then shipping them to Peace Passers. The project will continue from now through next April, 2011. Payton will be having booths for donations at all of the major soccer tournaments throughout Pima County. Take a look at his website: http://givethroughsoccer.com/

We are excited for his participation in The Tucson Soccer Academy tournament this weekend, Sept. 17, 18 and 19, where Payton’s fundraising efforts will begin. http://www.tucsonsocceracademy.com/tournament/index_E.html

Peace Passers would like to recognize Payton for launching this project and paving the way for other youth to be inspired by his service leadership. Special thanks to TSA, Play It Again Sports and Peter Piper Pizza in Tucson for supporting the project efforts thus far. We are excited for what Payton has set to accomplish!

We are excited to let you know we’ve donated 200 + jerseys & shorts, 40 pairs of boots, shin-guards, & soccer balls to be shipped to Haiti from St. Matthews Catholic Church (Charlotte, NC). We’d like to thank volunteer Sue Cunningham (Charlotte, NC) for connecting us to this project. For about 10 years, her church has been sending crates of food every July to the Missionaries of the Poor in Cap Haitien. When the earthquake in January 2010, they needed to provide much more than food.

The Missionaries of the Poor were started by Father Richard Holung and along with his religious order they provide help to the poor, homeless, mentally and physically challenged, lepers, & AIDS victims all over the world. The priests and brothers of his order provide endless but always cheerful care to these people in their centers.

Sue Cunningham described to PeacePassers “In Haiti, the brothers plan to move 300 people from Port Au Prince to Cap Haitien and provide a place for them to live in a warehouse. My church has been collecting money, supplies, clothes, towels, diapers, bedding etc to send in three 40 ft. containers to Haiti. We were concentrating on the necessities but the opportunity to play soccer should keep kids occupied and put smiles on their faces! I wish I could see their faces when the containers get there.”

Thanks to IMG Soccer Academy intern Steven Carrera (Bradenton, FL) for donating the jerseys & shorts and to Karen Sroczynski (Waxhaw, NC) for her son’s February donation drive in collecting used soccer boots & soccer balls for PeacePassers!

http://www.charlotteobserver.com/local/story/901346.html

In her own words Caleigh expresses her passion for the game & and the sense of giving.  “I love to play soccer and currently play on 2 teams. I play for my town in the BAYS League in the state of Massachusetts and I play club soccer for Mass Premier Soccer (MPS). In celebration of my 10th bday instead of asking my friends to bring me gifts I asked if they could bring soccer gear. After a lot of research my mom and I found PeacePassers and thought it was perfect! It is hard for me to understand that there are some kids my age who don’t get to play just because they don’t have the equipment. I love to play so much that I wanted to do my part to try and change that. My friends and teammates were so generous and brought some wonderful things that we now get to share with those who need it most.”

Caleigh successfully collected 36 pairs of youth size boots, 15 pairs of shingaurds, 10 balls, and 4 socks!

We at PeacePassers thank Caleigh & her teammates for their kindness. Best of luck for your upcoming Spring soccer season in New England!

During the week of February 14-21, 14 students and five faculty from Covenant Day School in Matthews, NC traveled to Les Cayes, Haiti to serve with El Shaddai ministries in local orphanages. El Shaddai oversees 12 orphanages and over 2000 orphans. Most of the kids are seeking refuge from the poverty that permeates this beautiful island and some have lost their parents in recent devastating hurricanes. While there we spent time painting, doing crafts, singing songs with the kids, and playing a lot of soccer under the hot Haitian sun.

Thanks to donations from PeacePassers, we were able to supply uniforms to all the kids at Cambry orphanage and soccer equipment to seven different orphanages! Any initial anxiety about our ability to communicate were dispelled shortly after our arrival at Cambry, when a little boy approached, noticed our soccer gear, and made a kicking motion with his foot and pointed at the soccer field. It truly is a universal game and being able to share in it brought joy to both the orphans and us!

In every orphanage that we visited the kids had literally nothing of their very own, so it was overwhelming to see their excitement and gratitude at receiving uniforms of their own. The orphanages had “fields” ranging from grass to dirt to gravel, but at every one there was some sort of goal, whether it was made of wood, sticks, or stones. This was a powerful illustration of the simple joy that soccer can bring even in the most dire circumstances. Pulling a PeacePassers ball out of the bag never failed to cause a huge throng of kids to congregate in anticipation of playing. Many thanks to PeacePassers, North Meck Soccer Club, and Charlotte Jr. Soccer for providing us the means to bring a little joy into the lives of hundreds of kids in Haiti!

PeacePasser Volunteer Kari Cope

Haiti2009PeacePassers(KariCope)