A Summer of Soccer Fun

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St. Augustine, FL we completed the donation of soccer equipment to the Youth and
Young Adult Network of National Farm Worker Ministry. Thanks goes out to our friends at Creeks Soccer in Jacksonville for providing the equipment. We are very happy that is was able to be used locally for a good cause. There are 1000s of farm workers and their families that are provided very little throughout Florida. Please read more about the story by clicking the link below.

http://www.nfwm-yaya.org/serendipity/index.php?%2Farchives%2F206-A-Summer-of-Soccer-Fun!.html

Soccer Balls for Honduran Children

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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.

Unity church honduras soccer balls

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.

Alex celebrates his 7th Birthday with PeacePassers style!

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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

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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

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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

Thanks goes out to Team Phoenix U8!

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phoenix clash under 8's

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!

San Rafael, Guatemala Donation Helps Kids Further Enjoy Their Favorite Sport

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A mission team from Caldwell Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, NC (www.caldwellpresby.org), has delivered 80 sets of jerseys & shorts donated from Flagler College (St. Augustine, FL) shoes (from donors nationwide), 20 balls plus other equipment from Peace Passers, to the indigenous community of San Rafael el Arado in Guatemala. The mission team was working through Common Hope (www.commonhope.org), a Minnesota-based nonprofit that provides assistance to Guatemalan families in the areas of education, healthcare, and housing. The church sponsors a child from San Rafael, helping to provide schooling, healthcare, and other services to her and her family, as well as support to the community as a whole.

Sally T, A member of the mission team says “Students from San Rafael were very excited to receive the soccer gear, since soccer is a popular pastime in Guatemala. The young women were especially happy to be included in the soccer plans and also recipients of the gear. Guatemalan children begin practicing their soccer moves with limes and other found objects by the time they are two or three years old. Yet rarely do village children have an opportunity to play with appropriate footwear and other gear. Mostly they play pickup games on dirt roads or empty fields after their chores are finished. Now the San Rafael school is planning scrimmages with neighboring communities. With these donations from PeacePassers, San Rafael students will enjoy their favorite sport even more!”

Donations shipped to Haiti

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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.

st matthews church soccer donations to haiti

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!