Premier International Tours Gives Back to the Soccer World!
Premier international Tours staff helping out at the Denver Rescue Mission
This week the entire Premier International Tours staff volunteered at the Denver Rescue Mission. The Denver Rescue Mission is changing lives by meeting people at their physical and spiritual points of need with the goal of returning them to society as productive, self-sufficient citizens. We started with food prep and after that we were working the food line.
More than 900 people received dinner through this program. Check out more on the Denver Rescue Mission by CLICKING HERE
Premier International Tours donates Soccer equipment to special community service projects in Argentina
Throughout the year Premier International Tours donates money and equipment to special community service projects. Last week we donated with the help of our representative Dario to Futbol Inclusivo Callejero de Argentina - Soccer Street from Argentina. Here is a report from Dario our Argentina rep:
Two weeks ago, we met with Daniel Picciani, the Director of FICA (Futbol Inclusivo Callejero de Argentina) and we bought training gear for his organization with the Premier International Tours donation. The donation helped procure scrimmage vests, soccer balls, cones, 3 goalie gloves, a ball pump and a first aid kit. Last Saturday at 3pm we met with the Daniel Picciani, Lautaro Lorences (PE Teacher) and Maxi Sotelo at Parque Dominico in the city of Avellaneda. They gathered 25 kids from ages 6 to 18 from less privileged neighborhoods such as Isla Maciel, Villa Dominico, Barrio Aguero, Wilde and Villa 21 who attend their program every Saturday at their local parks. They introduced us to the kids and we explained why Premier International Tours donated and that we were very happy to help since their program is a great asset to the community.
When we handed out the equipment to the kids and saw the smiles on their faces we knew how much this donation meant to them. The FICA staff was even more excited about all the training materials. They were grateful! Later, they started their regular Saturday program with some of their new training gear. They began with some soccer drills and warm up movements. Then they explained their FICA methodology: Basically, they play a game of soccer but before the match both teams make up their own rules for that specific match with no referees, just an observer or mediator. Some rules they choose last Saturday were: no tackles allowed and throw-ins were a mix of choosing use hands or feet. After the game both teams met up and talked about the game and checked if the rules were met and if not they discussed why not and try to achieve them the next week. To finish up the leaders served snacks donated by McDonald through Racing Solidario.
Basically, the idea is to teach the kids values like respect, sportsmanship and honesty through the game we all love! These kids come from very poor homes even some cases with not enough food and are in constant risk of falling into delinquency and drugs abuse. Therefore, having some time to play soccer and other adults as role models show them there is another world outside their everyday reality. Some of their former “players" have become PE teachers and others are helping as leaders of FICA in their own neighborhoods.
Mascall Football Academy extends our gratitude to Premier International Tours
Premier International Tours received the following message from the Mascall Football Academy – one of our partners in Trinidad and Tobago:
Premier International Tours has been playing the role of fairy godmother to the Mascall Football Academy for the past year; making generous donations, supplying equipment and making our kids' dreams come true. Engaging interactions with players from the visiting college teams from the U.S. has shed light on future possibilities for the older members of our Academy.
Players who once dreamt of playing for the community now dream of pursuing a degree in medicine and making the collegiate All-American team. For the younger players they now get living examples in whom to follow. Dellandre John recently concluded his first collegiate season and already has other members aspiring to be like him. The youngest set of the bunch, who enjoy simply chasing the ball and making new friends, are always eager to take pictures and mimic different accents.
Mascall Football Academy extends our gratitude to Premier International Tours for sharing our dreams for mentorship and empowerment of our youths. We look forward to another year of partnership as we develop our youths!
Premier International Tours and Habitat for Humanity International
Premier International Tours was given the opportunity to help, not only our local community but give back to 3rd world countries across the globe including Cambodia. The staff of PIT has been closely affiliated with Habitat for Humanity for over a decade.
Most recently one of our friends at Habitat International took a trip to Cambodia to visit the Kor Trakeit Primary School. The Kor Trakeit Primary School was built in 1998. Back then, the 15ft by 24ft was just made up of bamboo, wood and clay bricks and consisted of only 1 classroom, leaving many kids to study outside.
Since then, the school has managed to grow to 5 classrooms, 7 teachers and even a small library. It now accommodates over 190 students and with the help of Habitat International has several clean water supplies that allow over 2000 people from nearby villages to be able to use fresh, clean water.
Premier International Tours was very happy to donate soccer gear for this school allowing the kids to enjoy the “World’s Game” during this last trip! Below we posted a few pictures of the school and the team enjoying the donations.
If you’re interested in donating to Habitat for Humanities please visit this link: http://www.habitatcambodia.org/
PIT makes several donations to primary school in Trinidad and Tobago
Earlier this month Premier International Tours' president Loek van Zijl visited Trinidad and Tobago. One of the tour's highlights was a visit to a local Primary School called St. Agnes Anglican. This school is located in St. James, a suburb of Trinidad's capital Port of Spain. The school has almost 400 students, boys and girls, from the local area.
The majority of the students and their families are considered lower class in the community and struggle with poverty. One of the key factors for this school to create a road to success for its students is to give them, next to academics, a sports education as well. Many of their sports teams have won national championships.
Premier International Tours donated a complete set of NIKE jerseys for the girls' soccer team. The coach and principal promised to keep us posted about the upcoming season and championships. Groups traveling to T&T will have the opportunity to meet these kids and do a soccer clinic with them as part of a community service project.
Premier International Tours helps Indonesian girls soccer team
Through Habitat for Humanity International and the Peace Corps we recently donated soccer jerseys to a local school girls soccer team in Haurgeulis, Indramayu, West Java. This team participated at a local tournament November 22, 2014. The tournament was at the end of a soccer training program the Peace Corps started along with two local sport teachers. The program had 4 middle schools participating. Last semester, they met every Tuesday at their high school, SMA 1 Haurgeulis, to train all together and every week they would pick one school and go to there for a private training session with the schools team. They had around 20 girls from each school, making a total of 80 girls who participated at the tournament.
The amount of support the local staff received was tremendous and exciting because women's sports in Indonesia are not seen as important and often women/girls are not considered in creating scholastic sport programs. The motivation and talent for women's soccer is there. Unfortunately, gender roles are very binary and gender equality is something women are fighting. Courtney James of the Peace Corp said “Thank you so much for the jerseys, the girls were over the moon excited to receive them.”
