Play For Hope

We at Play For Hope have a lot to be thankful for this Thanksgiving.  I wanted to take the time to just give you a small snapshot of all the amazing things that have happened for Play For Hope in the last few months:

This past September we were able to have our own feast with almost 100 of our players in Rwanda and 80 guests in Portland.  It was an incredible time of our players sharing with us in the US what Play For Hope had done in their life and enjoying a good meal together. All of the children were able to eat the same great meal that we had in America.  In Rwanda the event turned into an all night dance party and celebration, as any good feast ought to.

2.  An Exciting Tournament Final 

We had an incredible final to our 2.5 month tournament, which included:

The best match I have ever seen featuring our girls under 19 team.  I have never seen a crowd react so positively to female players here.

The chance to play all 4 of our divisions final matches on one of the only turf fields in the entire country.

The Rwandan National U17 coach speaking to our players and encouraging them of all that they can become.

3.  Hiring 4 Coaches and an Administrative Assistant

 We have been able to hire our first four staff coaches and an administrative assistant.  The four coaches that we hired, Regis, Center, Pascal, and Richard, have all shown incredible commimtent to Play For Hope and its vision.

 We are extremely excited to be able to hire them as many were struggling to continue coaching and to find food to eat.  Now they will be able to further impact our players as they will go through daily training in the morning and will be freed most afternoons to visit players.  This is a huge step for Play For Hope as an organization.   

4.  Moving Into A New Office

We had outgrown our old office and could no longer fit all of our new staff and sports equipment inside of it.  Thankfully we were able to find a new office that not only fits all of our equipment and has space for coach training, but is much quieter than our old office allowing us to accomplish more work.  

5.  Continued Growth

We have been able to grow to reach more and more athletes this year.  In fact, tomorrow we will be meeting with a group of street kids who live in a landfill who are interested in starting a team.  It is exciting time for us to see our ability to impact players grow and grow.  

6.  You 

And finally we are thankful for all of you who have supported us, encouraged us, and followed us.  We would never been able to reach all of these children without you.