May 8, 2008. New York, NY and Cape Town, South Africa. GrassrootSoccer (GRS), a non-profit using the power of soccer in the fight against HIV/AIDS, and Ethan Zohn, winner of Survivor Africa and a GRS co-founder, will accomplish a world’s first. This fall Ethan Zohn will dribble a soccer ball 500 miles from Boston, MA to Washington, DC, raising awareness about HIV/AIDS. The 2008 Dribble will launch Grassroot Soccer United, a youth-led soccer club designed to support those kids around the world in their fight against HIV/AIDS.

On August 20, 2008, at halftime of the New England Revolution match at Gillette Stadium, Ethan will begin his 100-day journey south. One step, one dribble and one day at a time, Zohn and GRSU will visit hundreds of youth soccer clubs and players, between Boston and Washington, coaching soccer clinics, informing about the challenges of growing up in southern Africa, and teaching about the importance of making healthy choices in life. Zohn will conclude the dribble on December 1, 2008, in Washington DC on World AIDS Day.

Grassroot Soccer United and Ethan’s 2008 Dribble are sponsored by PUMA, a long-time supporter of African Football. PUMA has created PUMA and GRS co-branded soccer balls and apparel with all proceeds benefiting GRS’s mission. PUMA and GRS first worked together in 2006 when they teamed up on “The African Game,” a special book project celebrating African Football.

To participate and support GRS Dribble 2008, visit our web site at www.grassrootsoccerunited.org. By raising awareness in their communities, kids have an opportunity to win a trip to Cape Town, South Africa (host of the 2010 World Cup), meet a soccer celebrity and winner of the reality TV show Survivor Africa, Ethan Zohn, and to win various other prizes such as PUMA soccer balls, shirts, hats and bags. Young soccer players will also have the chance to be matched with an African Teammate who will benefit from their advocacy, fundraising and support.

If you are interested in hosting a GRS sanctioned event along the route, log on to www.grassrootsoccerunited.org and see if GRS Dribble 2008 is coming to a town near you.

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Contact info: Lucas Richardson, lucasr@grasstoorsoccer.org

Grassroot Soccer Inc. (GRS) is an international, non-profit organization that uses the power of soccer to improve the health and well-being of children and community in the most disadvantaged countries of the world. GRS teaches an activity-based curriculum that is proven through multiple, third-party studies to positively change behavior in children and communities with respect to their health and well-being, particularly with respect to the social change needed to thwart the HIV/AIDS epidemic. GRS provides its partners with technical assistance in the form of curriculum, best practices, staff training and evaluation methods to ensure a successful deployment of the GRS program in their community.

On Saturday (May 3), 32 small-sided teams will compete in the “Lose the Shoes” barefoot soccer tournament at Macalester Stadium. The co-ed teams, comprised mostly of Mac students, will include players of all skill levels. Upon registering a team, representative can decide whether their team wishes to enter the competitive or recreational bracket.

Regardless of bracket, all teams will have a common goal: to raise funds for Grassroot Soccer, a non-profit organization initiated by television Survivor winner Ethan Zohn. Grassroot Soccer began with the idea to use soccer as a platform for AIDS education in Africa and has since grown into a major NPO due mostly to its success in increasing AIDS awareness using the beautiful game.

The Lose the Shoes tournament, an idea conceived by students at Dartmouth, has enjoyed great success on the East Coast. Thanks in a major part to the collaborative effort of the Macalester men’s and women’s soccer teams, the tournament has begun its movement westward.

Members of both teams have dedicated a lot of time and resources to ensure that the event becomes an annual fixture at Macalester. On a larger scale, organizers hope that Mac can serve as a focal point for the expansion of this fundraiser to colleges and universities throughout the Midwest.

“Survivor Africa” winner Ethan Zohn tomorrow night will headline the annual fund-raising gala for A Caring Hand: The Billy Esposito Foundation, an organization that helps children survive the deaths of loved ones.

Founded by Susan Esposito-Lombardo, whose father, a vice president at Cantor Fitzgerald, was killed on 9/11, the foundation provides assistance and scholarships to children who have lost loved ones.

“We started this to direct my anger in a more positive way,” she said. “This is a place where children can feel like they are not different. And we need all the funds we can get.”

Tickets for tomorrow night’s event at the Hammerstein Ballroom be purchased by visiting acaringhand.org.

A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation; proudly presents the 6th annual gala - Handing Our Children a Brighter Future. The Fundraising Gala will be held Thursday May 1st, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom from 6-10 p.m. The majority of the proceeds generated from this evening will go towards the funding of the recently opened, A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation Bereavement Center.

A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation; proudly presents the 6th annual gala - Handing Our Children a Brighter Future. The Fundraising Gala will be held Thursday May 1st, 2008 at the Hammerstein Ballroom from 6-10 p.m. The majority of the proceeds generated from this evening will go towards the funding of the recently opened, A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Foundation Bereavement Center.

The mission of A Caring Hand is to provide services to bereaved families and children in a caring and knowledgeable environment during their time of grief. Coping with a loss is extremely difficult and A Caring Hand wants to be there for them in their time of need.

The Gala will be hosted by MC’s Brian Kilmeade - co-host of Fox and Friends - & Bruce Morrow of Sirius Satellite Radio. Additional entertainment provided by the creations Orchestra featuring recording star Kim Sozzi. There will be many special guests including Honorees - Ethan Zohn, winner of reality television hit series “Survivor”, Ada Dolch, and Susan Esposito-Lombardo.

Also attending will be Shep Messing, Survivor’s Jenna Morasca, Mitchell Olson, Kenneth Stafford, Eliza Orlins and Ian Rosenberger; NFL Network’s Adam Schefter, Real World’s Melissa Howard, and a host of other reality television stars including Bethenny Frankel, LuAnn de Lesseps, Ramona Singer and Jill Zarin of Bravo’s hit series “Real Housewives of New York City City”, Project Runway’s Malan Breton, America’s Next Top Model’s Nole Marin and Anchal Jones, Lisa Wexler - host the Lisa Radio Show, Kevin O’Conner of the Amazing Race, Jessica Szohr of Gossip Girl amongst many others. Awards will be presented to several select individuals that have lost a loved one as a child and have persevered to lead successful lives.

Reality Cares (www.RealityCares.org) is the Gala’s primary Media Sponsor. Major sponsors include The Oster Family Foundation, Bear Stearns, A&P Supermarkets, The Esposito Family, Kasowitz Benson Torres & Friedman LLP, Stuart & Elise Fraser, A.S.J Gentile, Jordana PR International, Eye5, Gotham Magazine, Big City Moms, and many others! All food will be provided by Barna, Bobby Van’s Steakhouse, Danal, Edible Arrangements, Ruby Foo’s, STK, Supermac and Victor’s Café. Drinks will be sponsored by Brooklyn Brewery, Dewar’s 12, Fizzy Lizzy, Linlin Vodka, Nando Winery, and Tommy Bahama Rum.

Join us for this memorable red carpet evening raising funds to support the programs of A Caring Hand, The Billy Esposito Bereavement Center. Red Carpet will begin promptly at 5:30 p.m. All VIP’s will be invited to Marquee Nightclub for the official after party. Let’s help make a difference! For more information, please contact Jordana PR at (800)710-3560 ext. 102 or to purchase tickets contact Annie Bonner at (646)278-6736 or visit www.acaringhand.org. General Admission is $150 and $250 for VIP tickets.

Ethan Zohn won “Survivor: Africa” and $1 million in 2002. He was “the soccer guy” on the CBS show. But unlike so many of today’s pseudostars of reality television, Zohn put his relative celebrity to a laudable use: he cofounded Grassroots Soccer, a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to educating African children about AIDS.

“I played professionally in Zimbabwe and saw so many of my friends get sick and die,” Zohn , 34, said in a telephone interview last week before departing for China, where he is taking part in a walk on the Great Wall with the Australian pop star Olivia Newton-John to support breast cancer research.

“After I won ‘Survivor,’ I found myself in a unique position,” he said. “All of a sudden people wanted to talk with me and be in the same room. I saw a unique opportunity, a perfect platform to get a message across for something I’m passionate about.”

This summer Zohn will be raising money with Dribble 2008, dribbling a soccer ball from New England beginning on Aug. 20 and ending in Washington on Dec. 1, which is World AIDS Day.

“It’s part of a youth movement to help end HIV/AIDS in Africa,” Zohn said. “I’ll dribble about 10 miles a day and try to raise money by visiting youth clubs, doing clinics, appearing at M.L.S. games and hoping to unite the soccer-playing youth around the world with African friends and clubs.”

The Grassroots Soccer and Dribble 2008 sponsors Puma, which outfits nine African national teams, and Eurosport will take the top 11 individual fund-raisers on a trip to Cape Town in 2009.

Check out Ethan’s comments on the first day of his walk:
(more…)

Bathing isn’t always convenient: When you’re late to work after one too many snoozes on the alarm clock, you’re lucky to get a swish of mouthwash, let alone a shower. But what happens when that shower, plus every other ritual of hygiene, is put on hold for more than a month—and you’re sweating under the desert sun and sleeping in a bed of dirt?

“You become creative,” says Ethan Zohn, the million-dollar winner from Survivor: Africa. “To brush our teeth we’d find these sticks and scrape our teeth with them. Or if you put sand on your fingertip you could use that to brush your teeth.”

During his 39-day stint in the Shaba National Reserve in Kenya, Zohn wasn’t allowed any personal hygiene products. “No toothpaste, deodorant, razors, soap, nothing,” he says. The show’s producers did provide the contestants with a few essentials: sunscreen, bug spray, and the signature Survivor bandannas, which he says served as a snot rag, wash towel, toilet paper, and water strainer.

The castaways’ bathing routine was equally down-and-dirty: “Our water source was a little pond that we shared with the rest of the savannah, so we’d get there and have to wait for the elephants and giraffes to clear the way,” he says. “But after the animals ate and drank, they’d also take a dump. So we’d have to carry away piles of elephant dung and clear a hole just to get clean water.”

Needless to say, his days in the desert took a toll on his body. The former professional soccer player went from being a 175-pound guy with curly hair and a bright smile, to a 141-pound, dreadlocked castaway with breath that could kill an elephant and sweat that smelled like “burned rubber.”

“After 2 weeks, you just gave in,” he says. “It took more time and effort to keep yourself clean then to just say, ‘I’m dirty, I’m going to remain dirty,’ and start enjoying it.”

And with a million dollars at stake, you’d enjoy it too—but what happened when the average guy turned African native returned to real life in New York City? “Truthfully, it’s kind of made me less groomed,” he says. “I really have no problem not showering if I’m not going to do anything, and I can go longer without brushing my teeth.”

But don’t be fooled into thinking he’s completely low-maintenance—that curly hair requires care. After returning from Africa, he discovered his favorite leave-in conditioner and anti-frizz hair cream were being discontinued, so he bought a store’s entire stock. “Now I have 100 bottles of each, maybe more than that, stashed in my mom’s basement in Massachusetts,” admits Zohn. “It’s really the only stuff that works on my hair!”

A Survivor’s Essentials

Anti-frizz cream aside, there are a few items Zohn couldn’t have done without—or would have given anything for—during his 39 days in Kenya. Primitive groomers take note: Even the most bare-bones routine requires these three essentials.

SPF. The show’s producers provided sunscreen for the survivors, but the desert rays still took a toll on their skin. “In the beginning everyone gets sunburned and peels,” says Zohn. “But after a while the dirt was caked onto our skin so thick we didn’t even need it.”

Durable underwear. Survivors are only allowed the clothes on their back, and underwear can get so dirty and worn that it starts to disintegrate. “I wore those ExOfficio quick drying, antibacterial boxer briefs, and those held up,” says Zohn.

Dental floss. It was a tough call between a toothbrush and toothpaste or dental floss, but Zohn says floss was his number-one wish in the desert. “I could get the stuff off the front of my teeth, but what goes on between your teeth is just nasty,” he says.

So, in Africa, we are organized into four groups: Operations (HR, facilities, voluntary services, accounting), Programs (all matters related to execution of our program), Curriculum and Development, and Business Development. We are in the process to identifying the leader of each area, all of whom will report to an African Managing Director.

As for updates: The operations team welcomes Vernon to the team, our new South African bookkeeper. In addition, the operations team has made accommodations for a bevy of GRS team members in the office. I hear the window has been fixed as well!

Regarding programs, Leah and team are staffing up for FMarc (FIFA funded program based in Cape Town) and the Malawi/Baylor Voluntary Counseling and Testing project. In addition, the team is anticipating work in Tanzania (FHI) and Kenya (OGAC) in the next 60 days. That, of course, is in addition to all the programs we are running currently.

On the business development front, the BIG, EXCITING news is that we have been asked to submit for the next round of the New Partner’s Initiative grant. The US Government selected our proposal as one of 48 out of over 500 asked to make a final submissions. Our submission is due at the end of May and we expect to hear by the end of August on a request of more than $5MM.

In addition, despite Tommy’s undergraduate GPA, he managed to find himself speaking at Oxford in March! Tommy was part of an elite group of leaders including Jimmy Carter talking about the pivotal role of social entrepreneurs in solving the world’s most difficult problems. His visit to Europe included meetings with the Norwegian government, another large, long-term potential funder under the consulting/technical assistance model

With respect to curriculum development, we are working to refine our curriculum and to add exciting multi-media components for a national project in South Africa (Avusa). Taylor is also headed to Ethiopia this month to do a follow up site visit on our successful programs there.

AED Exchange
The GRS US team will host 10 South Africans and Paola from April 17th to the 25th in Hanover NH and Norwich VT on a State Department funded cultural exchange.

Laura Rice and the GRS Upper Valley Volunteer Committee have every minute of their visit planned with super activities, such as visits to the Tuck School and DHMC, working with UV kids at Kimball Union and various grade schools in the area, attending soccer matches and dinners all around the Upper Valley. A special thanks, also, to the 20 families who have agreed to host the delegation for four nights each.

GRS Intern Programs
Summer is approaching. That must mean our 2007-2008 interns are thinking about their next move and a new group of interns are going to be checking their passports and packing their bags.
Here is the roster of new interns committed to spend next year in Africa working with GRS.
Maren Dale, Princeton College, Plantation, FL
John Chiavaroli, Kenyon College, Darien, CT
Taylor Downs, Amherst College, Hastings-on-Hudson, NY
Alexander Elias, Middlebury College, Manchester, VT
Melissa Esparza, Stanford College, Tuscon, AZ
Lena Roy Forman, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT
Sean Hinkle, University of Virginia, Mt. Pleasant, SC
David LaRocca, Middlebury College, Sparta, NJ
Stuart Phelps, University of Chicago, Helena, MT

Welcome. We can’t wait to get to know you all A LOT better this fall!
(Kristin, great work pulling this all-star crew together!)

Zimbabwe
By Methembe
Anxiety is growing by the day here in Zimbabwe. Voting ended on Saturday, 5 days ago and the presidential election results are still “being verified”! The parliamentary results were finally released yesterday and the ruling ZANU PF government has lost control of the house after a 28 year stranglehold.

Grassroot Soccer programs are currently in a “holding” mode. The Professionals Reaching Out program ended on March 14th after only 7 weeks of programming as schools closed early after a teachers’ strike and the chaos leading to the elections. The Peer Education Program has been temporarily stopped as well. There has however been a fair bit of activity on the fundraising front with some individual donations coming in. There are also some leads with other organizations such as World Vision, Dispatch and The Salvation Army. It is expected that if the political situation is resolved favorably, that the funding will quickly pour into Zimbabwe.

It is rumored that if the Zimbabwe Electoral Commission does not release the presidential election results soon we will have to source them from the black market which has kept this country going for the last few years! Jokes aside, Grassroot Soccer Zimbabwe is planning to host a Grassroot Soccer Tournament on May 25 at White City Stadium which will serve as both an awareness campaign as well as a fundraising event. More news next time.

“Give us a Kick”
In this section, we will describe a couple ways you can help out GRS this month.

1. Make a connection. Is there someone you know that we should know? Someone that loves soccer, has a connection to Africa or has an interest in helping kids? Send us an email if you do!
2. Support Methembe with a direct gift. Small, large, one-time or every month … Zimbabwe is on the verge of big changes. GRS is one of the only NGOs still operating in country. Help us maintain that as the country goes through these hard times.

Thanks from the GRS Team!

Being as young as I am, I feel like I can’t make that big of a difference, but I know I can if I try. I also know that if I study hard, I will be able to use my abilities and knowledge to help people and maybe even change the world.

Sounds like she has the right attitude.