Thanks to the 8th Grade Campers at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin!

September 23, 2010

camp_fuller_summer_camp_17PeacePlayers International would like to thank the 8th grade campers at Camp Ramah in Wisconsin! This summer, the campers banded together to make a gift of nearly $150 to PeacePlayers International, supporting our work using the game of basketball to bridge divides in the Middle East and all over the world!

Explains Linda Hoffenberg, the camp’s Director of Institutional Advancement:

In addition to enjoying all the activities of a fun-filled camp season, this summer these young people focused on the theme of charity. They spent a lot of their time and energy raising money, studying about philanthropy and learning about organizations doing good work in the local community and in the world at large. They raised money by holding raffles, selling telegrams and holding car washes.

The 8th grade campers held many discussion to determine the organizations that would receive their hard earned dollars, and we’re happy to say that PeacePlayers International was one of their top choices.

PeacePlayers International is honored to have the support of such an enterprising group of young people. We aim to bridge divides, not just those within divided communities but also those between diverse communities all over the globe, and it’s always rewarding to know that our work has resonated with a new group of young leaders.

Thank you to Camp Ramah in Wisconsin, and especially to the camp’s 8th graders for their hard work and generosity!

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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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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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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!

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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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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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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.

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Josh Erickson

September 11, 2009
Josh (left) at the adidas Nations Basketball Camp, with PPI-ME alum Danny Ourian (center) and adidas Global Basketball Event Manager Paul Diehl (right).

Josh (left) at the adidas Nations Basketball Camp, with PPI-ME alum Danny Ourian (center) and adidas Global Basketball Event Manager Paul Diehl (right).

PPI would like to thank its recently departed summer intern Josh Erickson. As Operations Intern, Josh worked closely with Director of Operations Tal Alter and Deputy Director Tim Guinan on a variety of projects, including our international staffing procedures, a forthcoming website revision, and PPI’s participation in the adidas Nations basketball camp. Josh is currently an MBA Candidate and Assistant Varsity Basketball Coach at Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. He is currently starting an NGO that will allow athletes to spend a summer training and serving the community in Quito, Ecuador.

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PPI Alums

September 4, 2009
Mike Cherubin draws up his next play.

Mike Vaughan-Cherubin draws up his next play.

PeacePlayers International has had dozens of outstanding American post-collegiate scholar athletes work in the field as PeacePlayers International Fellows, helping to train our coaches, oversee our programs, and keep everything runnning on a day-to-day basis. Lately, due to the hard work and generosity of the Vaughan, Cherubin and Lindsey families, we’ve recently seen our alums really step up by making financial contributions to PPI. Thanks to David Lasday, Brian Sigafoos and Danny Ourian for contributing to the Mary Vaughan Lindsey Memorial.

It’s not the first time our alums have helped us out either. They actually used to run our Facebook page and almost our entire web strategy – they’re pretty smart.

And of course, we would also like to thank our current Fellows: Mike Vaughan-Cherubin, Julie Younes, Rory O’Neil, Will Maloney, Ellen Cosgrove and Tim Roche, for all their hard work, and PPI’s volunteer Alumni Representative, Brian Lemek, a former Fellow in South Africa, for helping us all stay in touch.

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Pru Bovee, Grant Writing Consultant

August 26, 2009

PeacePlayers International is grateful to Pru Bovee for her outstanding service and dedication to advancing PPI’s mission.  Pru has been an invaluable resource and a tireless volunteer, providing pro bono consulting services to PPI, focusing on grant writing initiatives.  We are grateful to have someone of Pru’s caliber on our team.

Pru has more than 16 years of experience as a fundraising copywriter, focusing on direct mail and grant writing projects for progressive, non-profit organizations such as PPI.  If you, or an organization you know of are in need of Pru’s copywriting services, please contact Pru at:  pmbovee@mindspring.com.

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