Newsletter July 17, 2009
By Dean Doeling
Hello
friends
of the “Using
Sport For Social
Change” initiative.
This
newsletter
contains information on upcoming
events as well as
what USFSC is doing for the youth
and community of St. John, USVI.
USFSC ANNOUNCES
“JUST PLAY” FIELD DAY
IN ST. JOHN, USVI
On October 12th, 2009- Using
Sport For Social Change will hold
their first “Just Play” field day for
youth 18 years and younger in Cruze
Bay, St. John.
While the details are still being finalized, this free event will consist of
both individual and team sports, for
youths 18 years and younger.
The idea of this event is to introduce kids to some sports that they
may not have ever played before, in
a team and individual environment.
The event will consist of “stations”
that each participant will need to go
through in order to compete for prizes. Individuals will be competing
against, and with other youth in their
same age range.
We will even have a group of 2-4
year olds (accompanied by their parent) that will be entertained throughout the day with age appropriate
games. Please see the website and
upcoming newsletters for more details once they become finalized.
TEENS RAISE
FUNDS FOR USFSC
-UPDATE-
This is an update to last months
article about two very resourceful
teens from Ursuline Academy in
Willmington, Delaware that previously raised $65.00 for this initiative.
Betsy Carter and Lindsey Romano
(From left to right) were able to raise
an additional $140.00 from a raffle
they held at the Ursuline Basketball
Camp held last month.
“Thanks for sending us the awesome Nike equipment for our raffle.” wrote Betsy, “It was heavily admired by all of the girls at the
camp!”
The additional money will be used
to ship more Nike product down to
the existing sports and fitness groups
on island.
A big “thank you” to Betsy and
Lindsey for their added efforts to
help the youth and community of St.
John.
(note: If you have a fundraising
idea for USFSC, that can help raise
money for this initiative, please write
to me at: [email protected])
www.usingsportforsocialchange.com
USFSC DONATES NIKE
SPORTS BALLS TO
ST. JOHN PARKS & REC.
The “Using Sport For Social
Change” “Island Team” was able to
donate 60 Nike sports balls to St. John
Parks and Recreation last week.
Hubert Moscoso, the Administrator of the Parks and Rec. Department
graciously accepted the 20 basketballs, 20 footballs and 20 soccer balls
on behalf of the Parks and Rec. Department.
“ This will help the Parks and Rec.
Department in allowing more youth to
play sports.” Said Moscoso. “Thank
you very much!” Moscoso added.
ST. JOHN PARKS & REC.
DEPARTMENT GIVES
UPDATE ON FACILITIES
“The Parks and Recreation Department has done much to improve our
parks and facilities. Said Mr. Moscoso, Administrator of the Parks
and Rec. Department, “Such as new
lighting at Pine Peace Basketball
court, along with a french drain to be
added soon.” Moscoso said. “In addition”, he continued, “At the Recreation Center, ceiling tiles have been
replaced, the bathroom has been remodeled and two more bathrooms
have been added.” “Also”, Moscoso
continued, “Six new ceiling fans are
on site and soon to be installed, and
the interior has been repainted. There
is also a fully functioning computer
and faxing lab now.”
Moscoso also said that upcoming
projects include renovation of the
Winston Wells ball field and National
Park field.
Newsletter July 17, 2009
pg 2
BEAVERTON FAMILY
DELIVERS THE GOODS!
Fourty-seven brand new Nike soccer
balls stuffed into two large duffels and
ready to fly to St. John
A recent story that was run both
on my website and in my newsletter asked for help in getting sports
balls that I have collected down to
St. John.
I recieved an email from a gentleman name Marc Franc:
“Dean, I just read about your efforts on a USVI web forum & wanted
to offer my help to transport sports
equipment to the kids of STJ. I’m
assuming you work at NIKE HQ in
Beaverton. If that’s the case we’d be
glad to bring some of the equipment
you have with us when my family &
I are vacationing there in June. I’m
a former Nike employee of 15
years & we live in Beaverton. Let me
know if you are interested & we
can work out the logistics.”
I thought “wow!” what a great idea
this man has to be able to take the
balls down himself as part as his luggage and hand them off to one of my
team members on the island!
I emailed Franc right back and we
spoke on the phone a few times to
work out the logistics.
Marc told me that he and his wife
Melanie had been to St. John once
before, but they wanted to take thier
kids: Mitchell (12 yrs old) and Maddison (15 yrs old) with them this
time.
“My wife and I have agreed to take
two large duffle bags down with us
that we will stuff the soccer balls
into.” Marc said. “We will also
pay the extra baggage charge as our
donation to Using Sport For Social
Change.”
I thought to myself “I want to take
them more balls than they can possibly fit into the duffles so that we can
get as many balls down to the youth
and community as possible.”
So, I took two large boxes of brand
new Nike soccer balls over to Marc
and Melanie’s house one morning.
They were two of the most wonderful people and we talked for 20 minutes about St. John and the love that
we have for the island.
I then pulled the boxes out of my
car and said “give me a call if you
can’t fit them all in and I will come
get the extras.”
I then got an email and picture from
Marc, of all 47 soccerballs stuffed
into the two large duffle bags:
Marc writes“From this picture (shown above) it may not look
like it, but, we managed to squeeze
all 47 soccer balls for the STJ kids
into 2 duffle bags. I’m sure the TSA
folks at the airport will be scratching their heads when these bags go
through the scanner...”
A few weeks later, I recieved a
picture and a note from Marc saying
that he and his family met up with
locals Luigi Costello (in white hat)
part of my “Island Team”, and his son
Luca (blue shirt) to deliver the balls.
Marc and Melanie’s son Mitchell (in
green and their daughter Maddison
(in grey) possed for this “Handoff”
photo in front of the villa that they
were staying at.
It never ceases to amaze me how
wonderful things can happen with so
little effort. It just takes a fresh perspective and an email to get things
going. Many thanks to the Francs for
litteraly getting the ball “rolling”.
(note: There are still many boxes
of balls in my possesion that need to
get to the youth and community of St.
John. How can you help?)
GOT FACEBOOK?
USFSC now has it’s own group on
Facebook:
h t t p : / / w w w. f a c e b o o k . c o m /
home.php?ref=home#/group.
php?gid=100520031545&ref=nf
Join the group and get the latest information on what USFSC is doing for the
youth and community of St. John!
RECENT ARTICLES
PUBLISHED ABOUT
USFSC:
• http://barnako.typepad.com/
news_of_st_john_usvi/2009/06/virginislands-what-does-st-john-need.html
• http://www.stjohnsuntimes.com/
node/772
• http://www.stjohntradewindsnews.
com/index.php?option=com_content&
view=article&id=2973:visitor-sets-outto-help-st-john-youth-by-using-sportfor-social-change&catid=537:july2009&Itemid=38
Newsletter July 17, 2009
pg 3
PLEASE MAKE A DONATION TO
“USING SPORT FOR SOCIAL CHANGE”
Since the “Using Sport For Social Change” (USFSC) web site launched in January, 2009, there have been
numerous people writing and offering to help in any way needed. There are people offering their services
for free, such as professional photography, fund raising, coaching and logistics. There are many fans of the
island of St. John, and frankly, we can use all the help that we can get.
One of the ways that you can help is to make a donation to this initiative. We have partnered with “PayPal” and “Active Donations” on our web site: www.usingsportforsocialchange.com to accept your donation. Your money will go towards the betterment of the sports and fitness programs on the island of St.
John, USVI. Also, if you would like to offer your services free of charge, please don’t hesitate to contact
me.
Right now we have an immediate need for getting approximately 6 large boxes of equipment from Beaverton Oregon to St. John, USVI. We have contacted major shipping carriers to request in-kind shipping, but all of them have said “Thanks, but no thanks.” If you or anyone you know can help facilitate
the shipping, please contact me right away.
BUSINESSES THAT SUPPORT THIS INITIATIVE
The above businesses have graciously offered to help support the “Using Sport For Social Change” initiative.
I offer to each business their information and web link on my “Supporting Companies” web page, as well as their
logo on USFSC banners and fliers that will be distributed in the future. I am looking for other businesses to help
support this wonderful cause as well. All I ask for now, is that you be willing to help in some way in the future, such
as putting USFSC fliers on your counter for your customers to take. It’s easy and it would be a great way to make
your customers aware of this initiative to help St. John youth.
If you are a business owner and would like to be included in this list, please contact me at:
[email protected]