Monday, April 11, 2011

Saved by a Ball




April 11, 2011


Emily Frey is a board member of Hearthstone Village. She bought our girls a “One World Futbol”. In March we brought the “all-terrain, ultra-durable” blue ball to Haiti and the rest is history.

Our 18 girls live in a small compound, which is 99% cement. There is no car and they rarely leave. They home school in the morning and run around stir crazy in the afternoon. Every month our team takes new soccer balls to Haiti. Every month we return and there are no balls. I finally figured out why. The balls last a day or two and then they are flat, dead, gone to the trash.

I thought air was the ball problem so I bought a solid ball to take along with the One World Futbol. We took the girls to the beach for the first time in their lives. We took the two balls and the girls had a wonderful time. Unfortunately the solid ball disintegrated from the salt water. The blue Futbol was not phased.

Every day the girls play with the ball, they sit on it, and abuse it. When we went to Marie’s Village for our first play date we brought jump ropes and the blue ball. Marie’s 17 children have only lived at her orphanage for 3 months. Some look at the ground when you introduce yourself. Shy, withdrawn, not able to read because they have never been to school. They are adjusting to a new life where there is food every day, and a new family.

Marie’s boys ended up kicking that ball the whole time we were there. A joy to behold.

Haiti needs more One World Futbols. You can help by joining our Hearthstone Ball Drive!

Our non profit Hearthstone Village has received an offer from our friends at the One World Futbol Project, the organization that produces the world’s most durable ball. These balls cannot pop or deflate, even when punctured by glass, barbed wire, or other sharp objects, and they never need a pump. The One World Futbol was designed to perform for years in all kinds of environments, from beaches and backyards to places like refugee camps, urban neighborhoods, and war zones.

From now until May 15th, please go to the One World Futbol web-site (www.oneworldfutbol.com) and purchase under any of the “Give One Get One”, donation of ball options. When you check out, under the order summary, respond to the question “Have a Coupon Code?” by entering HEARTHSTONE in the box, and clicking “apply code,” and the number of balls for which you selected a “give” option will be allocated for donation to Hearthstone Village. For every sale, One World Futbol will also donate $5.00 to Hearthstone! You will know that the code has been accepted because there will be a $1 discount applied to each order.

You will love your ball and we promise to distribute the donated balls to orphanages in Haiti. Trust me, with these balls we can save children, bring them hope, and joy.

Thanks and Love Lynn

P.S. We have a team in Haiti this week Linda and Adrienne, two RNs from our hospital. They had a successful “continental breakfast” at Marie’s Village, the second play date of the girl's lives. Marie is going to take Linda to look at land, as RMOF searches for the place to build their permanent home. Linda says she is so exhausted by 3 pm she has not had time to write for the blog.