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.

Be Inspired. Meet Kiera Lyons.

Kiera Lyons, a sophomore at Southern High School in Harwood, Maryland (Anne Arundel County) plays on the varsity soccer team & plays club for U-15 Freestate ECNL Storm. She took the lead on organizing a collection drive for Peace Passers, collecting gear from her high school team, Freestate ECLN Storm, U-15 Freestate Wolverines & the U-13 Freestate Fireballs.

Kiera told Peace Passers “I was inspired by a pre-college visit to Notre Dame. After returning from their summer soccer camp, I searched the internet for soccer charities that might need my help. As soon as I discovered the PeacePassers.org website, I knew I found the one! I liked their mission and that Candace was a soccer player. I knew I had a lot of gear I was not using anymore and that my friends did too, so I
decided to start a cleat drive. I asked my high school coach, my club team and my sister’s club teams to contribute. Turns out, many families had used gear they wanted to donate. Overall, I collected 51 pairs of cleats.”

In November Kiera’s high school team made the Maryland State 2A finals for the first time in the school’s history. Right after the finals Kiera traveled to play in the Capital Area League Shootout (CASL) tournament in Raleigh (with club team Freestate Soccer Alliance, Bowie, MD). Kiera explained “After the state finals, my mom and I drove to Raleigh and then the next day, after the CASL game, we drove another couple of hours to Charlotte to meet Candace and drop off the donations. I was really excited to hear they would be getting to Guatemala only a week or so after I brought them.”

Way to go Kiera! Thank you for setting an inspirational example both on and off the field!

Peace, Play, & Soccer for All

With the season of thanks upon us there’s no better time to bring thanks to a recent donation made by Lexxi Martini from Albany, New York. Lexxi is currently in her first year of college at the University of Connecticut, School of Business. Before heading to college this past fall, as part of a service project Lexxi organized a collection of used soccer gear from her community and team mates. Lexxi (4th from left in picture) was a 4 year Varsity player for the Guilderland Girls High School Varsity Soccer team. All together Lexxi collected over 75 high school and junior varsity team jerseys, warm ups and shorts including over a dozen cleats and turf shoes. All of this equipment is now headed to Afghanistan.

James Gorman is a soldier in the U.S. Army and is presently deployed in Afghanistan. James has spent his free time volunteering at a local school in Kandahar serving 75 boys age 6 to16. In an area of the world where the atmosphere is often volatile & threatening, the game of soccer provides a positive outlet for the boys at this school. While volunteering James observed the need for soccer equipment and took initiative to seek out resources where gear might be available, which is when he contacted Peace Passers.

Much appreciation goes to Mr. Gary Martini (Lexxi’s dad) for reaching out to Peace Passers to help in identifying where to send the collected gear. After Peace Passers connected Lexxi’s collection to the request from James, Gary helped facilitate & fund the shipment to Afghanistan.

James told us “I know the boys will be so excited. They have grown up in such a harsh environment, and it is important that they have a chance to just be kids.” A Peace Passers thank you to Lexxi, the Lady Dutch players, Gary Martini and to James for his efforts beyond the call of duty! Peace, play & soccer for all.

Sean McManus & The Eagle Scout Service Project

I felt inspired to help because I love soccer and I don’t know what I would do without it” – Sean

An Eagle Scout Service Project is the opportunity for a Scout in the Boy Scouts of America to demonstrate leadership of others while performing a project for the benefit of his community. In order to complete this endeavor, 15 year-old Sean McManus reached out to Peace Passers. All in all Sean collected over 1,000 items of soccer gear from his community in Spotsylvania, VA.

After Sean and his fellow troops counted and organized the equipment Peace Passers connected him to a collaborative partner Chris Crane who’s efforts are focused in Nicaragua with The Pulsera Project (check out www.pulseraproject.org ). With a packed SUV, Sean & his dad drove the gear 3 ½ hours from their home in Spotsylvania, VA to meet Chris in West Chester, PA. Chris Crane explained “The soccer equipment that Sean collected and donated to Peace Passers will go to youth in Nicaragua living in the poor neighborhoods of San Marcos, Masaya, Managua, as well as to a youth shelter on Ometepe Island, called Sí a la Vida. In all of these locations we work with community leaders to provide opportunities for young people, and that includes the opportunity to be part of a soccer team. Soccer teams provide youth communities with a great foundation of fun and fellowship that helps kids become the best they can be.”

The service experience is explained best by Sean himself, “Knowing that I am having a positive impact on the lives of other youth makes me feel great. This donation drive was different than other drives I have participated in before. It was personal to me and I felt like I was in the driver’s seat. Also this time, I will know exactly who the donations are going to (youth in Nicaragua) and will be able to actually see the impact of my project. I felt inspired to help because I love soccer and I don’t know what I would do without it. To provide other people with the opportunity to play means the world to me.”

Sean’s insightful remarks: “I was also inspired by the quote from Winston Churchill, ‘We make a living by what we get. We make a life by what we give.’ I have learned that I can make a difference in the world. Thank you Peace Passers for giving me this opportunity to help serve!”

Check out more of Sean’s amazing photos on the Peace Passers Facebook page. And don’t forget to ‘like us’ and share with friends!

Hope is the Dream of a Soul Awake

honduras soccer ball donation

We talk a lot about the power of a soccer ball. That it can bring hope, happiness and a positive focus to the daily realities that surround young people. This photo speaks for itself. No matter the circumstances, the moment you have a ball at your feet, you can begin to dream.

Thanks goes out to the mission team from Grayson United Methodist Church in Grayson Georgia who traveled to Honduras in June.  Lisa Sampson contacted Peace Passers requesting soccer balls and explained, “We find that with soccer balls we can “break the ice” with children and adults in the villages we serve.” The mission team distributed the balls along a 6 hour route from Tegucigalpa to the Rancho el Parasio near San Estaban Honduras.

Peace Passers was able to help supply soccer balls for this group by connecting Lisa to an equipment donor. In April high school students and avid soccer players Sarita Biswas, Hannah O’Connell & Allie Capozza from Bedford, MA hosted a Peace Passers clinic and equipment collection for their National Honor’s Society Project. Thanks to this wonderful project, Sarita was able to ship 62 soccer balls directly to Lisa in Georgia.

We are grateful for the continued efforts of those willing to collect gear on behalf of Peace Passers and the volunteers like Lisa’s mission team who help make the distributions possible!

View more photos from the trip here: https://picasaweb.google.com/100998706499039972514/GraysonMissionTeamHonduras?authuser=0&authkey=Gv1sRgCJGD4–otuG-Cw&feat=directlink

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!

Hope for Angola

We are always excited to see photographs of the receiving end for Peace Passers soccer equipment. Thanks to missionary Josh Kimball we have plenty of smiles to share from the youth in Angola, a country located in south-central Africa. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angola).

Josh picked up 20 soccer balls this summer while passing through Charlotte, NC for a friend’s wedding. The soccer balls were donated to Peace Passers by Chris Goodrum, (a fellow YMCA employee) who found out about our organization as an avenue to distribute equipment to global communities. Believe it or not the soccer balls were donated to us because the original purchasing company logo was misprinted. This is yet another example of ‘new, used, misprinted’ items that can still be put to great use!

If you’d like to learn more about the work done in Angola visit Hope For Angola: http://www.hopeforangola.org/home.html Josh Kimball is currently studying at the Capernwray Bible School in Lancashire Enlgand. We wish him the best of luck & continued good efforts in pursuing the shared passion of soccer worldwide.
Also be sure to check out more photos from Angola on our fanpage: http://www.facebook.com/peacepassers

Payton Rudnick Paving Roads to Success

We wanted to give you an update on Payton’s project that began in August of 2010. His latest photo “Got ‘Soccer’ Ball” is also priceless & worthy of sharing! Again and again he is raising the bar for all of us. Over these past few months Payton has been working on various avenues to gain support for his Peace Passers collection drive.  From contacting local businesses like Peter Piper Pizza and Play it Again Sports in the Tucson area, setting up collection bins around the community, to presenting his pitch at Rotary Clubs he has spread the good word of giving back to the game. Most recently Payton presented to the board of the Ft. Lowell Realtor Shootout and found success in the outcome. “They have agreed to let him have a free booth for the big events they have on Friday and Saturday nights and will let him place bins at each of the 15 to 20 parks involved in the shootout,” Julia Rudnick explained. The experiences Payton continues to grow from will no doubt pave the road for many to follow. Thank you to Payton and the Rudnick family for their continued enthusiasm and perseverance for the Peace Passers organization.

Check out Payton’s website http://www.givethroughsoccer.com
Payton’s collection totals as of November 22, 2010 are 70 soccer balls, 140 jerseys, 31 shorts and $1062.00 donations. Keep ON!