Call for help to all my family and friends

Dear Family and Friends,

I have a special request for all of you. This summer I am working in Cape Town, South Africa with the Amy Biehl Foundation – a wonderful nonprofit organization whose programs are designed to develop and empower 5-18 year old youth in the poverty-stricken townships of Cape Town. As many of you know, the World Cup begins on June 11^th in South Africa, and although this tournament is bringing a lot of wealth and excitement to the established parts of Cape Town, the townships and the children living there have largely been left out of these benefits and, in some cases, have been negatively impacted.

So, I, along with my fellow interns, have decided to bring the World Cup to the children in the townships by organizing Amy Biehl’s Soccer Winter Cup, a 3-week Soccer Tournament for 200 children in the townships of Cape Town. There will be a total of 32 participating teams with each team hosting 6 players. The children will get to enjoy competing against each other as well as learning about the location, culture, and people of their assigned country.

So far we have been able to raise $800, and are half way towards our goal of $1600 but still need more money to make the tournament a success, as we want to provide:

-Printed T-shirts of all countries for every player and referee

-Safe transport to the tournament facilities

-Trophies and medals for the winning teams

-Materials for educational programs

-Soccer balls and small goals for games

-Food and drinks

So this is a friendly request to all of you to please donate towards the Amy Biehl Winter World Cup, even if the donation is small: only $20 can already supply one team with t-shirts, food and drink for all three weeks! So many of us around the world will be enjoying the World Cup as we party and celebrate. I ask you to give a few seconds of thought for these kids who live in South Africa but can’t even experience the mere excitement of watching the World Cup games on a big screen. Let’s bring the World Cup to South Africa’s townships!

If you wish to donate, you can send a paypal link to jhage@unc.edu or email me and I can send you my bank details so you can transfer money. After you have donated, I will send you a confirmation from the Amy Biehl Foundation to make the donation tax deductible.

Thank you so much!