PPI in NYC

March 1, 2010

The Harlem Wizards: Fine Purveyors of "Trick Hoopz and Alley Oops"

We’ve written about the PPI Fellowship alumni here on the Sixth Man before, and today we’re proud to announce a new initiative sparked by the energy and enthusiasm of our former Fellows. On Sunday, March 21st, the Harlem Wizards will be playing the Safe Haven All-Stars at Columbia University’s Dodge Physical Fitness Center. This event has been organized by Danny Ourian, who spent two years working with PeacePlayers International – Middle East, and now works with the Safe Haven West Side Basketball League, which provides safe supervised recreational activity during the winter months for children in New York.

Danny, representing PPI - ME in NYC

The Harlem Wizards are one of the greatest basketball shows in the country, promising “Trick Hoopz and Alley Oops” at each one of their events, with a stock of talent that includes former players from the Harlem Globetrotters, several NCAA D-I schools and more, all determined to wow fans and put the best exhibition of basketball talent on display.

Tickets are $10 in advance for all comers, $12 at the door for children and $15 at the door for adults, and, thanks to the generosity of Safe Haven and the Wizards, proceeds will benefit PeacePlayers International.

With the combined energy of the Harlem Wizards, Safe Haven Hoops, and PPI, tickets are sure to move quickly. PPI will also have both former and current staff on-site to talk about their experiences with the program. If you’re in the New York area and looking for an opportunity to connect with PPI or learn more – or if you just want to see some exciting hoops on the Upper West Side – get your tickets now.

See the press release after the break for more information.

Read the rest of this entry »

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

Thank you to the St. Thomas More School!

February 9, 2010

Want to support PeacePlayers International? Check out the end of this post to learn how you can help PPI bridge divides around the world for free with just two simple clicks.


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PeacePlayers International would like to thank the St. Thomas More School, in Oakdale, Connecticut, for its longtime support. St. Thomas More School’s ties to PPI go back to 2007, when the school held the first of what has thus far been four annual fundraisers on behalf of PeacePlayers International.

Since that first event, St. Thomas More School has raised over $3,000 to support PeacePlayers International’s work worldwide. To put that in perspective, $3,000 can roughly cover the year-round costs of eight participants in Israel and the West Bank. The St. Thomas More School Community’s generosity has allowed four more Arab and four more Jewish young people to play together and learn together in pursuit of a more peaceful future.

Matt Quinn in his PPI-ME days, horsing around with an integrated team from Beit Shemesh and Esawiah.

The efforts at St. Thomas More have been led by Jere Quinn, a math teacher and the Varsity basketball team’s head coach, who has “honed the basketball and life skills of top players for three decades,” according to the Hartford Courant.

St. Thomas More has also played a more direct role in our programs by way of one of its alumni, Matt Quinn (Jere’s son), who played a leading role as a PeacePlayers International Fellow in the Middle East and Northern Ireland. You can read Matt’s thoughts about his experience in Northern Ireland here (“The American Director,” at the left).

Want to take a simple action to support PeacePlayers International?  We’re now eligible for inclusion in the latest edition of CauseWorld, a mobile app that lets you earn “karmas” – badges backed up by donations from Citi and Kraft – for your favorite causes just by visiting your own local hangouts. Vote for PPI to be one of three new Causes included in this round. (You can find us fourth from the bottom of the list on the right.) There’s no registration required and, with just a few seconds of your time, you’ll help others support PPI for a lifetime!

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

Masters Basketball Madness

December 29, 2009

PPI would like to thank David Adelman, the coach of the USA Maccabiah Masters Basketball team and the President of Play Hard Hoops, for organizing Masters Basketball Madness, a tournament in Milwaukee this March that will benefit PPI. Twelve lucky teams can sign up to travel to the site of first- and second-round NCAA tournament games and take part in a competitive amateur basketball tournament. Slots are $7,500 per team, and David expects them to fill up quickly. If you’re interested, contact David directly at adelhoopsedu[at]hotmail[dot]com or 847-420-8115. See the flyer below for more information.

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

Help PPI win $1 million!

November 18, 2009

Click here to vote now and help PeacePlayers International improve this child's future.

We’re no stranger to the power of competition at PeacePlayers International. Every day, we see competition and teamwork forging friendships where they were unheard of before – among Jewish and Arab children in Jerusalem, or Catholics and Protestants in Belfast, or Greek- and Turkish-Cypriots in Cyprus, or blacks, whites and Indians in South Africa. We know firsthand the power of competition to urge us to something greater.

We’ve just entered a competition of our own, and a win would mean quite a bit to the organization. Chase Community Giving recently announced it would be awarding $5 million to over 100 organizations – and YOU decide who wins. Please take just one minute and click here to vote for PeacePlayers International.

The top 100 vote-getters will each win $25,000 in the competition’s first round, with a potential for greater prizes – up to $1 mil. – after that. At PPI, $25,000 is about enough to support one PeacePlayers International Fellow, or as many as FOUR integrated teams for a semester. That’s nearly FIFTY children given a unique opportunity to make friendships across generations-old divides through basketball.

So please vote. Then, forward this note to your friends to ask them to help out too. Facebook, Twitter, Change.org – wherever you are, we hope you’ll carry our message with you. With your support, we can make an even bigger impact worldwide.

Thank you in advance!

Comments Off | Bar/Bat Miztvah, College, Intern, Middle and High School, Synagogue, Uncategorized, Volunteer | Tagged: , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by peaceplayersintl

UPDATE: Congratulations (and Thank You) to Our First Hall of Famer!

October 29, 2009

UPDATE (10/30/09):

Ema sent us this picture of her (left) and the SID selling cookies to support PPI:

SID_fundraiser_103009

The Students for International Development Club selling cookies at BYUH

 

Ema with some PPI - ME participants in the Middle East

Ema during her summer volunteering in the Middle East

PeacePlayers International would like to thank Ema Billings, who has been one of PPI’s most enthusiastic and inspiring supporters since she first learned of our organization.  After visiting PeacePlayers International – Middle East (PPI – ME) as a student at Brigham Young University Hawaii (BYUH) in 2008, Ema returned to her campus and led multiple initiatives to support the programs she had seen first hand. She set – and exceeded – a personal fundraising goal.  She led BYUH’s Students for International Development club as they organized a PPI film night, complete with PPI wristbands. And she teamed up with Sariah Howard and Art Saowichit to help @RTIMOS, a production company based at BYUH, organize a “Peace Internationally” concert, which raised roughly $2,000 for PPI – ME. As if all that wasn’t enough, she paid her own way to the Middle East this summer, where she volunteered with PeacePlayers International, among other nonprofit organizations.

Ema is currently wrapping up her thesis, which explores teaching conflict resolution to school children in Hawaii, and she is preparing to apply to graduate school, where she hopes to study either Peace Studies or Conflict Analysis and Resolution. PeacePlayers International is only one of the many causes Ema supports. You can follow all her latest activities at http://www.ema4peacebuilding.com/.

For her continued passion for PPI’s cause, PeacePlayers International would like to induct Ema Billings as the first official member of its Sixth Man and Woman Hall of Fame.

The Sixth Man and Woman Hall of Fame is where PeacePlayers International recognizes its most outstanding and inspirational volunteers, those who have given 110% to its mission of using basketball to bridge divides. Inspired by basketball’s “Sixth Men” and ”Sixth Women” – players who forgo the glory of a starting spot to make crucial contributions to their teams when they’re needed most, the Sixth Man and Woman Hall of Fame honors those who have helped support PeacePlayers International while hundreds, even thousands, of miles away from our programs.

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

Thanks to the Ramah Day Camp in Nyack Community

October 26, 2009

logo_nyackPeacePlayers International would like to thank Dana Levinson, Mindy Edelman, and the Nevonim group at Ramah Day Camp in Nyack, New York. Each year, campers at Ramah choose an organization to support as they climb Hook Mountain, the second highest mountain in the Palisades ridge. Inspired by Dana Levinson, a student at McGill College who learned of PPI while studying abroad, the “Nevonim,” Ramah Day Camp’s ten-year-old group, chose to support PeacePlayers International.

Under the leadership of Mindy Edelman, the Nevonim raised $828 for PPI, roughly the amount needed to support two participants for an entire season in our Twinned Basketball Club program, which integrates Jewish and Arab youth in the Middle East through basketball. Because of the Nevonim group’s work, one more Jewish child and one more Arab child can be given the opportunity to become teammates and friends.

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

PPI Needs YOU to be a Team Captain

October 12, 2009

Interested in getting involved with PeacePlayers International? Sign up to be a Team Captain. Team Captains are our official ambassadors to the community at large. When you sign up to be a Team Captain, you commit to working closely with PPI staff to help raise the organization’s profile in your own town and support its programs overseas. This structured program also offers official Team Captains unique opportunities to learn about PPI, what we do, and how it works. If you’re interested in becoming a Team Captain, contact PPI’s Development and Communications Associate, Brian Cognato,at 202-639-6632 or bcognato[at]peaceplayersintl.org for more information.

Click here to see the full-size flyer.

Click here to see the full-size flyer.

Comments Off | Bar/Bat Miztvah, College, Intern, Middle and High School, Synagogue, Uncategorized, Volunteer | Tagged: | Permalink
Posted by peaceplayersintl

Have You Seen PPI’s New Blog?

October 5, 2009
These girls were just two participants at Earthdance, the largest event in PPI - CY's history.

These girls were just two participants at Earthdance, the largest event in PPI - CY's history.

Though this site remains focused on YOU, our supporters around the world, PPI is proud to announce its sister site, “From the Field.” From the Field is a blog that will be updated almost daily directly by PPI’s staff in the field. Check it out now to read about a new partnership and Tony Hawk in South Africa, why PPI – Northern Ireland is “Up Against the Wall,” what’s going on with the new Girls LDP team in the Middle East, and the largest event in PPI – Cyprus’ history.

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

Thanks to Daniel Pevny!

October 5, 2009

PeacePlayers International would like to thank Daniel Pevny for his hard work in support of our cause. After joining PPI’s Cause on Facebook only a couple short weeks ago, Daniel has already recruited 14 new members. Thank you Daniel, and keep up the good work!

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

Thanks to the Karchmers!

September 17, 2009
PPI would like to thank Drew Karchmer, a big University of Memphis basketball fan, for his work to benefit PeacePlayers International. Go Tigers!

PPI would like to thank Drew Karchmer, a big University of Memphis basketball fan, for his work to benefit PeacePlayers International. Go Tigers!

PPI just had a great set of visitors at its global headquarters in Washington, DC. Drew Karchmer, a recent Bar Mitzvah from Memphis, Tennessee (pictured at right), is currently organizing a project to benefit PeacePlayers International in conjunction with the Anshei Sphard Beth El Emeth Congregation’s 21st Annual Memphis Kosher BBQ Contest. His grandparents, the Coopers, had treated him to a trip to Washington for his birthday, and the whole group stopped by our offices to say hello.

We’ll post more details about the Drew’s event as it approaches. PPI would like to thank Drew and his mother Laurie for all their support.

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Posted by peaceplayersintl

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