Rio Homeless World Cup Promo Video

Here’s the promo video for the Homeless World Cup in Rio from 19th to the 26th of this month. It’s getting very exciting now as kick off gets closer & closer. The video uses street art and animation and features four global ambassadors, ex-players, now living extraordinary lives on their journey away from homelessness. 64 Nations from around the world will come together to compete in the 8th annual Homeless World Cup and New Zealand will be there. Tim, Fraser, Kingi, Kaha, Patrick, Terereao, Kevin and Fabian would love to have your support.

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Wellington Volunteer Success

Congratulations to the wonderful and hard working volunteers of Street Football Aotearoa in Wellington who picked up the Sport & Leisure award at the Wellington Airport Regional Community Awards on Tuesday evening. The awards are sponsored by Wellington International Airport in partnership with The Community Trust of Wellington. The award was given in recognition of the Trust’s work and contribution to the City and the Wellington crew will now progress in this category through to the regional finals later in the year. Top stuff.

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Football not only goal on Brazil trip

The latest piece of press in the run up to the New Zealand Team’s trip to Rio for the 2010 Homeless World Cup. The tournament runs from the 19th to the 26th of September. This article is from last Thursday’s Otago Dailty Times. Unfortunately Tim’s Brazilian matrimonial dream may well be scuppered by that no small matter of an International 4-a-side Street Soccer Competition monopolising his time while he’s over there… We can’t have WAGS coming between the Street Blacks and their game.

Image Courtesy of Allied Press

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New Zealand Homeless World Cup Team on the Road to Rio

Street Football Aotearoa is delighted to announce that a team will represent Aotearoa/New Zealand at the Homeless World Cup in Rio de Janeiro in September.

It is not known how many people are homeless in Aotearoa/New Zealand, but Street Football Aotearoa does know that its football projects help many homeless and marginalised people to participate more fully in society.

SFA provides weekly football training in partnership with local social service agencies in New Zealand’s four biggest cities. Our local partners are: The Lifewise Trust and The Salvation Army in Auckland; Downtown Community Ministry in Wellington; Christchurch City Mission in Christchurch; and PACT and the Dunedin Night Shelter Trust in Dunedin.

Thanks to the support of these agencies, as well as Sportzone, Wellington City Council, New Zealand Football, the Cuesports Foundation and a large number of generous individuals eight homeless people will now have a once in a lifetime opportunity to represent their Country and change their lives forever. The team will be coached by Steve Fletcher from Auckland who volunteers his time and support.

Chair of Street Football Aotearoa Katie Owen says “We’d like to say a huge thank you to all those people who have helped us out, it’s fantastic that these players who have trained so hard for the past 18 months now have the opportunity to fulfil their dreams”.

New Zealand Football chief executive Michael Glading said their donation was in line with FIFA’s aims of helping out those who are disadvantaged through the sport. “Football … touches so many people on this planet. It’s great to help out.”

The squad to travel to Rio are: Tim Aitken (Dunedin) Fraser Hoffe (Wellington) Kingi Hotu (Auckland) Kaha Keepa (Wellington) Patrick Shannahan (Christchurch) Terereao Thompson (Christchurch) Kevin Wagstaff (Wellington) Fabian Waenga (Wellington)

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World Cup heroes help get homeless team on its way

Awesome news. New Zealand Football has been instrumental in helping Street Football Aotearoa raise funds to take a Kiwi team to this year’s Homeless World Cup. Amanda Fisher writes in the Dominion Post about the help we’ve received as All White Andy Barron meets Fabian and the rest of the Wellington players. Click on the Photo to read the article:

KENT BLECHYNDEN/The Dominion Post

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Street Football on Breakfast

Check out coverage of our Road to Rio (2010 Rio Homeless World Cup) on TV1’s Breakfast show with Paul Henry.

Paul Henry’s bafflement as to why people are homeless in New Zealand is one of the key reasons for Street Football Aotearoa’s existence – to raise awareness and understanding of this issue. Until we have enough affordable housing in New Zealand, and support for people who need it – we will have homelessness.

You can watch the full clip here.

We’ve had a great response to this story and now we only need about $10,000 to get the team to the tournament at Copacabana Beach.

Help get us there, please donate.

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Volunteers raising funds for homeless footballers

June 23 Press Release – Downtown Community Ministry

This week, not only are we celebrating the All Whites’ achievements at the football World Cup, but it is also Volunteer Awareness Week. New Zealand has a lesser-known football team fundraising to go to a different World Cup and this team is supported entirely by volunteers.

The 2010 Homeless World Cup will take place in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in September. Volunteers are fundraising to meet the cost of uniforms, passports, insurance and return flights to Brazil.

Katie Owen, a volunteer from Street Football Aotearoa says, “Participation in the Homeless World Cup has shown a significant impact on the lives of homeless and marginalised people. From our 2008 team, one player has started University, another received an award for his volunteer work, and three others are now in stable employment.

“Unfortunately, we are currently $10,000 short of our budgeted total and we need to raise this in the next three weeks so that we don’t miss out on flights”.

The Homeless World Cup began in 2003. More than 500 players from over 60 nations will take part. Participation has consistently led to over 70% of those involved improving their lives through employment, housing, education and addiction treatment programmes. All the players who represented NZ at the 2008 Cup have moved into stable accommodation and made positive life changes.

Street Football Aotearoa is supporting the NZ team, and has been preparing participants from all around the country for 18 months. Downtown Community Ministry (DCM) coordinates weekly training sessions for players in Wellington.

DCM is proud to be supporting Street Football Aotearoa and acknowledges the role volunteers have in getting the team to Brazil.

You can find out more about the Street Football Aotearoa project here, learn about the Homeless World Cup here, and make donations here.

Content sourced from www.scoop.co.nz.

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Street Football and Spanky

Listen to Steve’s chat with Spanky about Street Football Aotearoa and our ‘Road to Rio’ on Chistchurch’s RDU by clicking on the image below:

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Homeless find hope in global game

Charlie Gates of The Press newspaper in Christchurch talks about New Zealand’s second shot at international football glory this year. Christchurch training is run in partnership with Christchurch City Mission. To read the story, click on the link here.

To donate to the trust and help get the team to the Homeless World Cup, click here.

Picture by KIRK HARGREAVES/The Press

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Highly Commended Volunteer of the Year

Street Football Aotearoa Chairperson, Katie Owen, was awarded 2010 Highly Commended Volunteer of the Year in early June.

No, Katie doesn’t look like this! That’s Steve McLuckie accepting the award on her behalf, (on the left).

To learn more about the Intrepid Travel Volunteer of the Year Awards read this story over at Good Magazine.

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