The Sixth Man

PPI Fellow Rory O'Neil and his friends on New Years' Eve counting raffle tickets.

At 12:01AM, PeacePlayers received their first donation thanks to two-year fellow in Northern Ireland, Rory O’Neil and some very generous friends.

After a two-year term in Northern Ireland, Rory took time off to head to Cleveland, OH to visit former college friends and teammates and celebrate the New Year at an old college bar with a 50/50 raffle. Since the raffle helped raise money for local Cleveland charities, Rory thought it would be a great idea if they could do another for PeacePlayers International. Upon arriving at the event Chrissy Smaldone, a friend of Rory’s, informed him that $5 from every party-goer in addittion to the 50/50 intake would be donated to PeacePlayers.

At the end of the night, it was announced that Margot Woolley (the girlfriend of Rory’s brother) won the raffle. She instantly declared that her winnings would be given to PeacePlayers. Thanks to Margot and Chrissy, PeacePlayers received their first donation of 2011 of $500 which can go a long way in every one of our locations. Thanks to everyone in Cleveland for ringing in the New Year with PPI!

Rory and Margot

For more information visit our blog: http://peaceplayersintl.wordpress.com/

Today’s post comes from Aran, a recent addition to our team in Israel. Visit PPI’s “From the Field” blog for more about the Jerusalem All Stars and our activities all around the world.

The Lipman Family

As we’ve written before, this year PPI – Middle East has entered the first two teams ever with participants from both East and West Jerusalem in Israeli’s National Basketball League, the highest level of youth basketball in the country. The younger of these two teams (7th and 8th graders) recently played a game against Shoham that was no ordinary match. For starters, the PPI – ME girls (nicknamed the “Jerusalem All Stars”) had some difficulty playing their regular game. For most of the game they trailed behind, until finally they managed to take the lead and finish strong, earning another home win.

Despite trailing behind most of the game, the PPI-ME All-Stars won the match

But there was something else unusual. The home team stands at the Hand in Hand School in Jerusalem were packed with avid supporters of PPI-ME’s team. These fans yelled “D-Fense!,” cheered each bucket and analyzed every move in the game. These supporters were the Lipman family.

This Spring, Reed Lipman, a 12-year-old boy from New York, was trying to think of a tikkun olam project to accompany his Bar Mitzvah, when his dad returned from Play Hard Hoops’Masters Madness tournament in Milwaukee, which supported PeacePlayers International and was attended by PPI Executive Director Brendan Tuohey.  The father told his son about PPI, and Reed was so taken by the idea that he decided to make supporting PPI his Bar Mitzvah project. Specifically, he resolved to do three things:

1. He would research the organization and learn of its objectives and activities, particularly in the Middle East.
2. He would raise awareness for his chosen cause among friends and family.
3. He would ask invitees to his Bar Mitzvah to donate to PPI – ME in lieu of gifts.

Reed Lipman

Reed and his family came to Israel this December as part of their Bar Mitzvah celebrations. Naturally, we at PPI – ME were excited to hear this and made Reed and his family guests of honor at one of our highest profile events, an All Stars league match. These matches are ongoing and concrete evidence that the “PPI Way” works, and that youth from segregated communities can become not only teammates, but also good friends. For Reed, coming to the game was not only about seeing the game he loves in a different light, but also about seeing that his project would have a major impact. The family also noted their desire to see something that was “real” during their stay – something that was not “touristy” as the Lipmans put it – that illustrates what life is like in this part of the world.

Reed and the girls embarked on a spontaneous game.

After the game was over an excited Reed was taken by PPI – ME Managing Director Karen Doubilet to say hello to the girls. Their shared passion for the game of basketball was obvious and it wasn’t long before the Lipmans and the PPI – ME girls began a spontaneous match.

PPI – ME would like to wish a happy Bar Mitzvah to Reed Lipman and to thank him and his family for coming to see us, for their interest in our program, and for their generosity.

This project is partially made possible by the generous support of the American people through USAID.