SustainaBall Change

**Our next fund raising event is being held at Kildare' Irish Pub in Manayunk, PA on Saturday, September 18th, 2010. Tickets are $30 and there is a two hours of top shelf open bar from 8 pm - 10 pm. Please come, bring friends and help support our cause. It will be a fun night with great raffle and auction prizes including autographed sports memorabilia, gift certificates and much more. Doors open at 7 pm. Hope to see you there!

SustainaBall Change distributes donated college soccer equipment to the youth of poor communities in the Caribbean and Central America.

Owen Barrett, the director of SBC, graduated from Bentley University in Boston and now works in the financial industry in San Francisco. Owen--an experienced technical climber who has completed many challenging routes in Yosemite--played high level soccer throughout his childhood and adolescence and ended up as the captain of Bentley's NCAA soccer team as an undergraduate. His love for athletics and experience as a soccer player led him to create SustainaBall Change.

Owen comments on why he started SBC:

"I began playing soccer at a young age and continued to play competitively through college. My time on the soccer field not only developed a life long passion, but also opened my eyes to the positive aspects of the game, both on and off the field. Soccer encourages hard work and inspires sportmanship and a sense of accomplishment. Soccer also has the ability to transcend language and cultural barriers, perfectly exemplified by the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

Unfortunately, many of the hundreds of millions of youth around the world who play the world's most popular sport do so with improper equipment or no equipment at all. On a trip to Egypt a few years ago I saw this reality up close. Kids were playing soccer everywhere, but in almost all cases with nothing but bare feet and empty cans or rolled up newspapers for a ball.

American children who grow up playing soccer in many cases aren't satisfied unless they wear the newest cleats or kick the most cutting edge ball. Something needs to be done for the millions of youth who love the sport but can't afford the most basic equipment.'

SBC is built on an elegant but powerful model. Collegiate soccer programs use only the best equipment and then only for a short time before replacing it. Through his contacts in the collegiate soccer community, Owen has arranged for university programs--in one case an entire collegiate conference in the Northeast U.S.--to donate their used soccer balls on an ongoing basis and to officially get behind and promote SBC. Those schools and conferences will be able to directly support selected poor communities in the Caribbean and Central America.

As relationships are built with families and leaders in those communities, the equipment will be disbursed to local youth.

Owen plans to expand beyond the collegiate ranks to involve U.S. pro soccer teams and members of the U.S. soccer equipment industry.

He anticipates that the relationships and trust built through the activities of SBC will open up many opportunities for service and empowerment in the partner communities in the Caribbean and Central America. In a sense, the distribution of soccer equipment will be the first step in an effort to bring sustainable change to at risk youth in desperately poor communities.

We're glad to help Owen build SBC with fiscal sponsorship, consulting and administrative support.

You can make a tax-deductible contribution to SustainaBall Change using the Donate button below, or by sending a check payable to SustainaBall Change to:

Visions Made Viable
17595 Harvard Avenue
Suite C235
Irvine, California, 92614