Ajax Hornets U10 girls with Kelsey Lemon, Craig Forrest, Chris Doyle and Steve Horwood
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On April 3rd at the Salem Soccer Centre in Ajax the team gathered to pack a shipping box full of their own letters and photos for their new friends in Ghana. They also collected dozens of stuffed animals for the kids, and provided over 30 soccer uniforms!
Ajax Hornets girls with Craig Forrest, wearing gifts from GolTV
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Craig Forrest, former National Team captain and goalkeeper (now Rogers Sportsnet Soccer analyst and FIFA for SOS Ambassador), attended to congratulate the Ajax Hornets on their efforts. Craig expressed his admiration for the girls' hard work, and said "I've just been in Africa with SOS Children's Villages, and I can say with absolute confidence that the children will extremely excited to hear from their Canadian friends. The soccer uniforms are a tremendous gift for them, those jerseys and shorts will be adored and I'm sure they'll passed down through this group for years!"
The Hornets U11 girls also worked to fundraise for SOS Children's Villages new campaign with FIFA. They raised over $1000 for 'Let’s Play, Let’s Build' the Official Charity Campaign of the FIFA U-20 World Cup Canada 2007. GolTV made a significant contribution to the donation, and Vice President of Marketing, Chris Doyle, was on hand to provide the kids with GolTV merchandise to congratulate them on their hard work. "These kids worked hard to raise this money," Chris said, "GolTV is proud to encourage them by matching their donation and contribute to such an important cause."
In addition to GolTV, a corporate donation was provided by Black and McDonald, who donated Toronto Maple Leaf tickets that were subsequently raffled off by the Hornets' players. The 'Let’s Play, Let’s Build' campaign is raising funds to assist children who have been affected by HIV/AIDS and poverty in sub Saharan Africa.
Together FIFA and SOS will build a new SOS Village in Namibia for orphaned and abandoned children, and operate a community outreach programme for HIV/AIDS affected families in South Africa.
Head coach Steve Horwood says he's proud of the way his players responded to the fundraising initiative, an idea he generated after being part of a benefit event at GOL-TV with soccer legend Pele in which the SOS Children's Villages program was promoted. "It's not just about soccer, it's about developing people going on to be productive citizens. These kids know what it is to give. They really embraced this," says Horwood.
Horwood says the donation to SOS Children's Village is not a one-off deal. The team plans to raise $1,000 per year for the charity and he hopes other area soccer teams will do the same.
Join the fundraising efforts for 'Lets Play, Let's Build'