Whitecaps Foundation teams up with OA Projects
June 21, 2010
OA Projects has been selected by the Whitecaps Foundation as a charity of choice due to the strong alignment of mandates between the two organizations. Run by executive director and former Whitecaps employee Gavin Hollett, OA Projects are designed to promote peace and understanding among local youth.
OA Projects is a Canadian grassroots organization that uses soccer to support community rebuilding efforts by war-affected youth. The organization was founded in 2006 by University of Victoria students and is currently focused on supporting grassroots efforts to promote a peace-building framework in northern Uganda. That region has been severely impacted by 22 years of brutal civil conflict. OA Projects' major initiatives include training youth coaches, organizing soccer camps, and a league for peace, as well as rehabilitating community soccer fields. The main focus of the work is to enable a general reconciliation amongst the population by connecting war-affected youth and local youth leaders, under the encompassing umbrella of soccer to discuss important peace-building issues, such as sexual and gender-based violence.
In September 2009, OA Projects launched a North American community effort to provide long-term support for war-affected youth. 'Play Soccer So They Can' works by having league and recreational soccer clubs collect pledges for designated matches and bringing people together in their own community to play soccer so that war-affected youth can too. For 2010, OA Projects is hoping to raise at least $25,000 (or the equivalent of soccer camps for peace for about 1,000 children and youth) through this initiative.
Recently, the North Shore Youth Soccer Association joined forces with 'Play Soccer So They Can' and will be inviting their teams to raise funds during their weekend games on September 25 and 26. "I am very impressed with the leadership role that the North Shore Youth Soccer Association has taken in supporting the 'Play Soccer So They Can' project," said Vancouver Whitecaps FC president Bob Lenarduzzi. "Hopefully, their commitment to help war-affected youth will inspire other BC soccer associations to follow suit and join them in making this program a huge success. I am very excited to see the results of this partnership on OA Projects' locally-driven and soccer-based peace-building program in northern Uganda."
OA Projects is officially registered as a Canadian Charitable Organization under the name Equal Opportunity Society (BN# 83605 8693 RR0001). OA = Opportunitas Aequa, which is Latin for "Equal Opportunity".
www.oaprojects.org
www.playsotheycan.com
www.twitter.com/OAProjects
www.whitecapsfoundation.org
