Futbol Donations

	Students at Marverley Primary and Junior High School in Kingston, Jamaica, are grateful to have One World Futbols. With access to more soccer balls, the students can now spend more time practicing.
Related Item: See the Children at Play

COCONUT CREEK, Fla. (June 25, 2014) – One World Futbol and Food For The Poor have kicked-off their partnership with the distribution of 11,400 soccer balls in Jamaica and 6,000 soccer balls in Nicaragua. The goal is to teach children in disadvantaged communities about the healing power of play, and to restore their ability to dream. This announcement comes as the U.S. Men’s National Soccer Team prepares to face off with Germany in their last match of  group play in the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ in Brazil.

“Traveling in developing countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America, we often see children in poor neighborhoods kicking empty bottles, cans, or whatever they can scrounge up in place of a soccer ball,” said Angel Aloma, Executive Director of Food For The Poor.

Students at Marverley Primary and Junior High School used to play with a plastic bottle during recess until they received a donation of One World Futbols.

“The 15 balls received will make a big difference because we had none and we were actually wondering where we were going to get the funds to purchase what was needed, especially because there is no physical education budget at this time,” said Dorothy Taylor, Principal of Marverley Primary and Junior High School. “Now we have more than enough for the children to utilize. We can even include football as part of the extra-curricular sports activities for the summer school program.” 

“American soccer, also known as football in the countries we serve, is the most popular sport in the world,” said Aloma. “It’s a sport that is loved equally by the young and the old, the rich and the poor.”

Earlier this month, Bob Woodruff, co-anchor of ABC’s “World News Tonight,” recognized the inventors of the One World Futbol – Tim Jahnigen and his wife, Lisa Tarver – as they approach their goal to provide 1 million soccer balls to children throughout the world.

“It is a privilege to partner with One World Futbol to positively impact the lives of children worldwide,” said Aloma. “Every child should have the chance to experience the invigorating thrill of scoring a goal.”    

For every One World Futbol purchased, a second ball is donated to an organization that works with youth in disadvantaged communities worldwide. Unlike the average soccer ball that becomes worn over time, the One World Futbol is nearly indestructible. Even when punctured multiple times, it does not need a pump to inflate, and it never goes flat.

Richard Swanson, 42, also believed in One World Futbol’s mission to bring soccer balls to disadvantaged communities to foster social change. To raise money and awareness for the company's project, Swanson started to dribble a One World Futbol 10,000 miles to Brazil from Seattle to watch the 2014 FIFA World Cup™ games. Two weeks into the journey of a lifetime, Swanson was tragically hit by a pickup truck and died. For the duration of the World Cup 2014 donations can be made in his name at http://www.oneworldfutbol.com/campaigns/richardswanson/.

Food For The Poor, named by The Chronicle of Philanthropy as the largest international relief and development organization in the nation, does much more than feed millions of the hungry poor in 17 countries of the Caribbean and Latin America. This interdenominational Christian ministry provides emergency relief assistance, clean water, medicines, educational materials, homes, support for orphans and the aged, skills training and micro-enterprise development assistance, with more than 95 percent of all donations going directly to programs that help the poor. For more information, please visit www.FoodForThePoor.org.