Kendall High School Spanish Club Collects Gear for Peace Passers

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kendall high school soccer gear donations

Put your hands together for these students in Kendall, New York. Gretchen Rosales, the advisor of the Spanish Club at Kendall High School contacted Peace Passers in March with interest in organizing a class fundraiser. http://www.kendallschools.org/Highschool/language.html During the Spring semester the members of the Spanish Club collected new and used soccer gear including jerseys, balls, cleats, socks and shin guards. Once the equipment collection finished up the donations were matched up (by Peace Passers) to an equipment request from a group located in Oklahoma that will be traveling to Africa this summer. The Spanish Club then boxed up and shipped out their items to Ben Buchanan in Shawnee, OK. Ben and his mission group will then carry the gear on their upcoming trips to Ethiopia and Uganda. We appreciate the efforts of everyone who participated in putting this soccer equipment back into play!

Covenant Day School Passes the Peace to Haiti

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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

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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

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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

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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!

Last Game Jersey Donation Drive for AYSO Region 172

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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

Peace Passing from California to Uganda

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If you remember hearing about Alex Vazquez’s birthday party in Riverside, California then this story will speak to you! http://peacepassers.org/alex-celebrates-his-7th-birthday-with-peacepassers-style. After the party Alex & his mom shipped the soccer balls to San Francisco, California where brother Cameron Cooper volunteered as a Peace Passing link. As Alex’s Peace Passers soccer balls traveled onward to the hands of Cam, he then passed them along to Nicole Stannard (Clinical Director, Global Nurse Initiative) www.globalnurseinitiative.org.

Nicole and the GNI team then carried them to Fort Portal, Uganda where they were donated to the school, The Paul Devlin Academy. Nicole wrote to say “The kids loved, loved, LOVED their soccer balls and the teachers were beyond grateful for them. Without you guys we would have never been able to do this, so thanks to you, Cam and Alex who donated the soccer balls.”

uganda soccer gear donation

The principal of the school will keep the soccer balls at the school and they will use them during the school day when the teachers can watch the kids. We must agree this will be a great addition to their school day!! Thanks goes out to Alex, Cam, Nicole and Candace from the Peace Passers for participating in another successful circle of giving!

Illuminating the Peace Passers circle of giving

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In July 2010 I was contacted by Lori McCaffrey from the Kickers Soccer Club in Aurora, IL. Lori recognized that the club had extra soccer balls, pinnies, whistles, and duffle bags donated from Dicks Sporting Goods. She took initiative to get the extra items boxed up and shipped out to Charlotte, NC. In the same fashion I was also contacted by Ronell Uran from Sartell High School (Sartell, MN) who sent an email explaining, “I am a coach at Sartell High School and have two sets of jerseys that I would like to donate. I have 40 white jerseys and 34 blue jerseys from the company High 5. They were used for my junior high teams.” Overall Coach Ronell boxed up and shipped 98 jerseys to Peace Passers.

kenya soccer gear donations

Once received in Charlotte the circle of giving continued on with a connection to the Charlotte Eagles Soccer club. In our 4th donation to the Charlotte Eagles we were able to connect these items to their August 2010 mission trip to Kenya. Mitch Sanford (International Tour Director Charlotte Eagles) explained the “camps were held at a high school (almost all secondary schools in Kenya are boarding schools) in Mpeketoni, Kenya where we could house and feed all the boys. They also had two soccer fields on campus. There were about 80 boys from 5 different villages in the coastal region of Kenya. Most of these boys live in mud huts with thatch roofs and dirt floors. The Eagles and New Life Homes (the ministry we partner with over there) have been training coaches the past few years.”
Thanks to Lori, the Kickers Soccer Club, Coach Ronell, and the partnership with Mitch and the Charlotte Eagles for participating in the Peace Passers circle of giving back to the game.

team soccer photo donation

Check out more photos of this story on our facebook fan page: http://www.facebook.com/peacepassers

Check out what 12 year-old Payton Rudnick is doing in Tucson, Arizona. This is worth a look!

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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 collects soccer gear donations

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!