GiveMeaning Campaign continues to move forward

OA continues to accept donations through their webpage at GiveMeaning.com. The funding for Project Ecuador is slowly growing with 55% of OA's goal of $5000 having been raised.

Remember, small donations can make the biggest difference. Challenge yourself by donating $5 and getting five other people to do the same. The results will amaze you.

Please visit our page at vicsoccer.givemeaning.com to donate.

Maintain the aim.

OA recieves donation from Runners of Compassion

OA received the donation after discussion at the Runners of Compassion's November General Meeting. Project Ecuador was one of a number of projects which received donations.

Money collected from Runners of Compassion will go towards helping OA build a soccer field in Chimborazo.

Thank you Runners of Compassion for supporting OA and Project Ecuador!

To check out the other recipients please visit www.runnersofcompassion.com.

OA featured in the Victoria News

OA was featured in the November 22nd paper. The article, entitled "Soccer Buffs Give Back," was written by Don Descoteau, and focused on both Project Ecuador and how OA was founded.

"A mountain of boxes, bags of soccer balls and the odd pair of stray running shoes are piled in the garage of a home near Hillside Mall.

Before you go jumping to conclusions that it's a storage area for a sporting goods retailers, the stockpile is what can happen when people latch onto a good idea and run with it - quite literally.

The group of young people standing shoulder to shoulder in the dimly-lit space are grinning ear-to-ear. Their goal of securing 1,000 soccer balls and 1,000 pairs of cleats or running shoes for children in poverty in Ecuador is well on its way to being realized ..."

Project Ecuador reaches 1000th Ball!

OA reached the milestone on Saturday November 18th 2006. It represents half of our goal of 1000 balls and 1000 pairs of cleats.

While a lot of work is still needed to reach the millennium mark for cleats, OA is confident of reaching the goal before the departure date to Ecuador.

OA is still collecting balls, even though are target has been reached. One thing we have learned through conversations with people in Chimborazo - if we could bring down 3000 balls, they could all be put to use.

Maintain the aim.

"Sport is the best school of life."

OA had an exciting day on Friday November 10th, as Andrew Pike and Duncan Penn (pictured) attended a lecture by the UN Special Adviser on Sport for Development and Peace, Mr. Adolf Ogi.

Mr. Ogi spoke on using sport as a means to promote education, health, development and peace. He emphasized that if sport is accepted as something of value, then it can be the bridge for peace throughout the world.

After the lecture Duncan and Andrew were able to speak with Mr. Ogi regarding Project Ecuador. It was very inspiring to hear Mr. Ogi tell us what a difference our project can make. He said that if you ever want to help a child, you need to begin by playing with them. Mr. Ogi told us, "You are doing an amazing thing." Inspiring to say the least.

For more information on the UN's role in using sport as a tool for development and peace visit their website at www.un.org.

GiveMeaning and OA team up for "5 by 5 Campaign"

Currently, we are in the middle of a "Five by Five" campaign, with GiveMeaning. So far we have raised over 50% of our goal of $5000.

Five by Five works like this: You donate $5, and you ask five friends to donate $5 and ask five of their friends to donate $5. The process continues to branch out, costing each person only $5 and a few minutes of their time. Therefore, nobody has to contribute much, yet a large amount of money is raised.

This fund-raising campaign will have a prize for the person who fund-raises $1,500 first, or who has the largest donation chain by the end of November. This chain must contain a minimum of 40 donations of $5 or more. The prize is a new 30GB iPod Video, generously donated by GiveMeaning.

We encourage you to tell as many people as you can about this. The money will go a long way in improving the lives of the children in Chimborazo.

If you are wondering where the donated money will go, the order of priority for our funds is:

1) Cost of shipping the goods to Ecuador by boat

2) Cost of constructing a soccer field for the children, in Ecuador

How can you donate?

1) Go to our webpage at GiveMeaning at: www.vicsoccer.givemeaning.com

2) Click "Donate now".

3) Once done, click "Spread the word" and invite as many people as you can to donate.

IMPORTANT: In order to be eligible to win the iPod, you must use the "Spread the Word" function on our GiveMeaning page. This is the only way that we are able to track who you invite to donate. The function allows you to send emails to through GiveMeaning to any and all of your email contacts. If you have already donated, then simply just login and use the "Spread the Word" function.

If you have any questions regarding this, or anything related to Project Ecuador, please feel free to contact us at opportunitas.aequa@gmail.com

OA hosts "Deflation Party" at their Victoria HQ

Opportunitas Aequa spent the afternoon of November 4th working hard to organise and catalogue all equipment collected thus far.

The "Deflation Party" consisted of letting the air out of donated balls and boxing them. An inventory of all donated cleats and running shoes was completed.

Project Ecuador's totals are now close to 900 balls, and 500 pairs of cleats and running shoes. We continue to work hard to accomplish our original goal of 1000 balls and 1000 pairs of cleats.