Community-Peace-Soccer

Stanley Simonsen, who was born in Haiti, and his mother, Monica are headed back to Haiti this summer. They will once again visit Sakala , an organization that seeks to develop children and young adults in Cite Soleil through sports, agronomy, and education. Help the Simonsen family support the incredible work at Sakala by making a tax-deductible donation below.  Whether you want to make a personal donation to sponsor an athlete or some of their "Waste to Wealth" community development initiatives (e.g urban garden, gift shop) OR if you want to pool your resources as sponsor a team, we appreciate your contribution.  DONATE HERE 1. Decide whether you want to sponsor an individual athlete or team at Sakala or you want to direct your generous donation to one of their education or community development projects. 2. Click here to make your tax-deductible donation. Be sure to write "Simonsen Project" in the notes. OR 3. Contact monica.simonsen@gmail.com if...

Haiti 2019! After more than a year of dreaming about our next trip to Haiti, Stanley and Monica are returning for a little mini-trip as an add-on to a family wedding trip to the Dominican Republic. Stanley, "We can't go to the Island without going to Haiti..." One of our goals for this trip will be to scout out accommodations and logistics for our next trip. We are planning to return to Haiti (probably in 2020) with a kids and families (do you want to join us??). We will host a sports exchange program and have our kids play against/with the Sakala kids as well as learn about the culture in Haiti. In addition to scouting, we once again want to find ways to support our friends at Sakala and are thinking about how best to do that now. We know that they really need resources to grow their programs (including sending kids to school, buy food, pay for transportation, etc.) but we also want to take advantage of our checked luggage and fill it up with supplies. We will be put...

Looks like this update was not published back in the fall 2017... My apologies! As we settle back into reality and gear up for the holiday season, we are increasingly grateful for having had the opportunity to meet the kids at Sakala.  We wanted the boys to feel connected to the country and to see how much they had in common with kids halfway around the world. I think they were genuinely blown away by the skill and toughness of the young Sakala athletes. When they heard that Stanley was a goal keeper, they all wanted to shoot on him but were surprised when Stanley wouldn't dive on the HOT PAVEMENT to block their shots. These kids were used to playing barefoot and were tough as nails! Mike's mom has said since coming home that at first, she wasn't sure that raising money for soccer uniforms was the best investment- I mean, don't they need so much else? But, as a friend of Stanley and Dane's said, "these kids deserve new stuff too." We all know how it fe...