Get Your Kicks!
Soccer for Peace presents its second annual fundraiser, GET YOUR KICKS!
New York, NY, May 5, 2006 — Soccer for Peace is proud to host its biggest fundraiser to date, Get Your Kicks! on Wednesday, May 31st at the West Side Loft in New York City. Soccer for Peace is a New York based non-profit organization aiming to unite children of war-torn nations through their shared love of soccer. Soccer great, Shep Messing, and his co-host on MSG’s Soccer Report and winner of CBS’s hit show, Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohn, along with U.S. Soccer Federation president Sunil Gulati will be this year’s guests of honor.
Coming days before the start of the World Cup, the event is a celebration of soccer and humanity. Some 500 guests will gather for dinner and dancing with chances to win a wealth of prizes including trips, celebrity engagements, signed memorabilia, and luxury goods.
Guests of Honor:
Shep Messing is an icon of American soccer, having played professionally for 14 years and then commentated for nearly twenty. After graduating from Harvard, Shep played for the New York Cosmos alongside legends Pele and Franz Beckenbauer, leading the team to victory in Soccer Bowl 1977. Throughout his career Shep represented the United States on a global stage and since 1986 has covered the FIFA World Cup as a commentator for ESPN. Presently, Shep is serving in his fourth season in the broadcast booth for Red Bull New York.
Since winning Survivor: Africa, Ethan Zohn has contributed much of his time to charitable organizations such as his own, Grassroot Soccer and America Scores, Kick AIDS, YouthAids and the Colon Cancer Alliance. In recognition of his important work, Ethan has been awarded the 2004 Nkosi Johnson Community Spirit Award, the “Heroes Among Us,” award, and the Auxilia Chimusoro award. In addition to his endless humanitarian efforts, Ethan played professional soccer for the Highlanders Football Club, Cape Cod Crusaders, and Hawaii Tsunami.
Sunil Gulati, the U.S. Soccer Federation’s newly elected president, has had one of the biggest effects on the growth of soccer in America. As a successful Columbia University professor of economics, Sunil has held positions such as President of Kraft Soccer Properties, Major League Soccer’s Deputy Commissioner, and executive vice president and chief international officer at FIFA World Cup USA 1994.
The Organization:
Soccer for Peace believes that sport can serve as both a metaphor and vehicle for peace. Playing on mixed teams, children quickly (and organically) overcome barriers such as religion, ethnicity and even language. Get Your Kicks! aims to raise $75,000 for Camp Coexistence 2006. The overnight program, to be held this summer in Israel, consists of intense soccer training, dialogue workshops, and other activities common to soccer camp.
GET YOUR KICKS!!
Wednesday May 31st — 7:30-10:30pm
WEST SIDE LOFT — 336 West 37th Street
For more info: www.soccerforpeace.com
PR Contact: Fireworks ICS · Tara Modlin · 212 481-8484 · TModlin@fireworksICS.com
Sponsors: Millennium Homes; Jefferies & Company, Inc.; Atrium; Weiner Lesniak, LLP; Wilf Family Foundation; Kroll Inc.; Bumble & Bumble; Mandelbaum Foundation.