Sports Gift has distributed sports equipment to several communities in Easter Europe experiencing severe poverty. Below are some of the stories from the Eastern European region:
2013
Romania
Partner Organization: Harvest Romania
Items Donated: 271
Children Impacted: 100+
This gift of sports equipment included baseball cleats, mitts, helmets, bats, shirts, hats, belts, baseballs, sliders, pants, gear bags, and baseball jerseys. This organization holds baseball events for children in the community including camps and games. Sports equipment is considered a luxury in this community beyond most family’s budget.
Russia
Partner Organization: Capo Beach Calvary
Items Donated: 120
Children Impacted: 250+
This gift of sports equipment included basketballs, soccer balls, baseball mitts, baseballs, jump ropes, frisbees and other sports equipment. The sports equipment was donated to two orphanages in the Kostroma region of Russia.
Ukraine
Partner Organization: Athletes In Action
Items Donated: 98
Children Impacted: 250+
This gift of sports equipment included soccer balls, basketballs, volleyballs, baseballs and other sports equipment. AIA offers sports clinics and camps to children in the community.
2011
Italy and Austria
Partner Organization: Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa
Items Donated: 68
Children Impacted: 40+
This gift of sports equipment included soccer balls, jerseys, Frisbee and other sports equipment. The church had missions trip to Italy and Austria with a team of high school students. The trip was designed to give students an opportunity for practical ministry by serving the community, the church, and the people of Italy and Austria, with a strong emphasis on personal evangelism. They were working primarily with children in Italy who have parents, and also with missionary children in Austria.
Hungary
Partner Organization: OM Sportslink
Items Donated: 619
Children Impacted: 400+
This gift of baseball equipment included catchers gear, cleats, baseballs, mitts, softballs, batting gloves, batting helmets, bats, baseball jerseys, baseball pins, belts, hats and bases. This organization established a baseball club in Erd to help local churches build redemptive relationships with kids and adults through baseball. This club was created as a sports ministry to develop a relationship with Hungarians and share the love of Jesus. This program also teaches life skills to enable youth to make wise choices, help children stay healthy, teach discipline and self-control, teach teamwork, develop leadership through mentoring and discipleship. Many communities in this area are quite poor and have large concentrations of Gypsy people.
Moldova
Partner Organization: Athletes in Action
Items Donated: 102
Children Impacted: 150
This gift of sports equipment included clipboards, pennies, referee jerseys and uniform team sets. Athletes in action sends college athletes to compete overseas and spread the message of Jesus. This equipment is going to Chisinau, which is the capital city of the poorest country in Europe.
Romania
Partner Organization: Calvary Chapel
Items Donated: 759
Children Impacted: 100+
This gift of sports equipment included baseball cleats, mitts, helmets, bats, shirts, hats, belts, baseballs, sliders, pants, gear bags, and baseball jerseys. The goal of this missionary is to start baseball teams in this impoverished region. The connection will be initiated through baseball camps, and then a theology of knowing God through playing sports will be administered. The city is full of old communist apartment buildings. No stores in the area even sell sporting equipment, however because most families struggle financially, sporting equipment is rarely in demand here. There is an excessively high tax rate and although wages are much lower here than in the US, goods are much more expensive.
Ukraine
Partner Organization: Kids Around the World
Items Donated: 130
Children Impacted: 60+
This gift of tennis balls gave the children in Nova Kakovka something to play with on the nice new playgrounds that were built for them by this organization. The main goal of this program is to build playgrounds for the children to enjoy.
2010
Italy and Austria
Partner Organization: Calvary Chapel of Costa Mesa
Items Donated: 68
Children Impacted: 40+
This gift of sports equipment included soccer balls, jerseys, frisbee and other sports equipment. The church had missions trip to Italy and Austria with a team of high school students. The trip was designed to give students an opportunity for practical ministry by serving the community, the church, and the people of Italy and Austria, with a strong emphasis on personal evangelism. They were working primarily with children in Italy who have parents, and also with missionary children in Austria.
2009
Kazakhstan
Items Donated: 229
Children Impacted: 100+
This gift of soccer equipment included soccer balls, uniforms, cleats, shin guards, coaching supplies, basketballs and playground balls. This gift was made to an organization supplying orphanages throughout Kazakhstan. These children have nothing to call their own and live in poverty. They have no formal education and live in oppressive conditions.
Romania
Items Donated: 41
Children Impacted: 400+
This gift of soccer balls, footballs, volleyballs and other supplies. Trusesti is a rural community in the northeast corner of Romania. This region is recognized as one of the poorest regions in Romania and the EU. The community has about 5,500 people and only about half are employed and approximately 75% live at or below the national poverty line. The local school has no sports equipment. This gift was made to a Peace Corp volunteer teaching the children in the community so she could start a sports program for the children.
Ukraine
Items Donated: 50
Children Impacted: 350
This gift of soccer balls and soccer uniforms was given to two Peace Corp volunteers to establish a sports program in the communities of Voledarske and Komsomolske in the Ukraine. Volodarske is a town of about 8,000 people in southeast Ukraine. The living conditions in the community are challenging with about half the town having running water and power shortages are common. The town has no places for the children to play without the influence of drugs and alcohol. Komsomolske is a town of about 15,000 located in East Ukraine.