The Power of Sport to Change Lives
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about what we are doing at Aussie X. Most people saw this link in an email or on facebook and were too distracted to see how they could do something small to help change a child’s life. Like us, you are someone that actually cares!
The Aussie X Foundation is committed to empowering kids through sport in at-risk zones throughout the world. As a charitable organization we rely on grants, sponsorship and generous donations to make a difference.
What have we accomplished so far?
- In 2008, Aussie X partnered with the Ontario Trillium Foundation and was awarded a grant to develop a Junior Australian Football League within three at-risk zones of the Toronto Police Department. The three-year program has been so successful that Aussie X has been nominated for a Great Grant award. The winner will be announced in March 2012.
- In 2011, the Aussie X team visited schools in Montego Bay, Jamaica, educating over 1000 kids. Later that year, the team travelled to Nairobi, Kenya and taught 3 200 kids the life-changing power of sport and community.
There is still so much more that can be done!
How can your donation help?
- On our trip to Trinity Elementary in the slum region of Kibera in Nairobi, Kenya we discovered that over 300 children go to school hungry. Aussie X will fund a feeding program that will ensure those children have breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea provided every day. To do this it costs under $30 to feed each child for an entire year!
- The Junior Australian Football League model developed over three years with a grant from the Ontario Trillium Foundation can now be implemented throughout Toronto, offering kids in at-risk zones the chance to be empowered by sport.
- For just $6000 Aussie X will organise a field, scoreboard, maintenance and the Aussie X program for a war-ravaged community in Rwanda.
- In 2012 Aussie X will visit India and South America, hoping to repeat what was accomplished in Kenya.
Every little bit helps! If you would like to help Aussie X, please make a donation by clicking here! Goodonyamate!
Are you still unsure about donating?
We would like to invite you to check out the Aussie X Facebook page and read from the latest group of students we’ve been working with in Canada.
Watching kids laugh and smile and helping them learn respect and gain confidence is the ultimate fulfilment. When a troubled youth says thank you with a giant smile or when a child with low self-esteem masters a new skill and stands that bit taller it makes everything seem worthwhile.
The 2011 trip to the slums of Nairobi, Kenya was one of the most rewarding experiences we have had to date. The opportunity to teach 3 200 youth Australian football and all the positive values associated with that was second to non
e. It was here that director of Aussie X, Kaela Bree, met an 11 year-old girl named Susan (see picture). Susan lived in a local orphanage and she resisted communicating with the foreign volunteers and so was known as the ‘troubled one’. However, Kaela developed a special bond with Susan and in turn was able to develop her self-confidence and even took her through a visioning process, which allowed her to finally find hope for the future. With a smile and a tear in her eye Susan discovered her dream to become a pilot!
What we do is not just about the sport, it’s about connecting with youth by providing them with positive role models and giving them tools and strategies that they can use throughout their lives. An important focus is on nurturing the inner belief that anything is possible!
The generosity and commitment of Aussie X monthly donors have allowed us to reach new heights in the last six months and the plans are only getting better.
Our growth and plan moving forward includes:
* Kenya 2012 and Beyond – Fusing Feeding and the Physical project.
After the success of our first mission, we have developed a relationship with the Archbishop of Kenya. We came to realize that many of the children are attending school with no food in their belly. What in turn happens is that schools set up feeding programs at the schools so that the children enjoy breakfast and lunch at school as part of their school fees. For many schools, there are no feeding programs. Aussie X Foundation plans to rectify some of this problem and infuse footy into the school’s Phys Ed programs as well! To feed one school with 300 students breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea for an entire year costs a mere $7000! Think about how much just you and your family spend on grocery bills for 1 month. Every little bit helps.
* Toronto 2012 and Beyond – Footy Fever throughout Toronto project.
Aussie X as part of its project with the Ontario Trillium Foundation and the Ontario Australian Football League formed the first junior Footy league in Ontario during 2011. 45 Youth from the Humber South region registered and played footy on Friday nights prior to the main game of the OAFL. The model used to achieve this was refined over three years and can now be implemented all throughout Toronto within the more needier communities.
* Sanejo (Rwanda) 2012 and Beyond – Building fields for Footy project. What an amazing project Sanejo is.
Check it out http://www.sanejo.org/
We have partnered with this group through his good mate Clint Misamore. For $8000 US, Aussie X can build a grass field and scoreboard at their village in Rwanda. The entire Village has been built by volunteers and financial supporters. No one has been paid a cent to build the villages and schools and provide the teacher training and resources to support the families that have been ravaged by war! Truly inspiring…please check out their site!
