Edit: As of January 30th, 2012, this project has been fully funded by the North Texas Peace Corps Association. Their astounding generosity has left me speechless! Please remember that you don’t have to serve to be part of the Peace Corps legacy – you can help right now by funding (in part or in whole) a Peace Corps Volunteer’s project – all of which you can find here.
Now back to the previously posted entry 
:
As many of you know, in addition to teaching English as a Peace Corps Volunteer, I am also involved in youth development work in my community, with a focus on healthy lifestyles. In that vein, my Ukrainian counterparts and I have organized and submitted a grant proposal with the intent of providing the local youth sports center with much needed equipment (from sports equipment to heating units.) Please take a look at the project, and if you’re able to, donate! Even if you’re not personally able to donate to the project, please forward the information to anyone and everyone you think would be interested in being part of this undertaking!
(I will be promoting this project endlessly until it’s funded, so be prepared!!)
As an added bonus, everyone who contributes to the project will receive (if they so choose) a budget breakdown and project completion summary – and thank you letters from the youth who use the center. In English! (Which means yours truly will be doing a lot of translating, potentially!)
Now on to the nitty-gritty (the project summary):
Our project “executive summary” is as follows: Healthy bodies grow healthy minds. Project “Youth Sports Center” will provide much-needed sports equipment and materials to the Youth Sports Center of a small town on the northern border of Ukraine. A Soviet Era theater building has been revived and reinvented by residents to meet the needs of youth in the community. There is a well-trained, dedicated staff already in place working with minimal support and realizing a modicum of success.
The next step is to raise the additional funds to properly equip the Center to support the needs of organized programs. The goal is to engage the community’s youth in positive, healthy lifestyle pursuits, and dissuade them from becoming entrenched in narcotics and alcohol abuse. The Center will provide a hub for peer-to-peer networking and support, while increasing the self-esteem and overall mental and physical health of the community’s youth numbering more than 300 between the ages of 12 and 17. Requested funds will provide the Youth Sports Center with essential equipment including universal strength trainers, weights, lockers, quality soccer and volleyballs, and sports equipment.
With the improvement of the Center’s indoor equipment and facilities, more young people will attend the Center and engage in healthy lifestyle choices. Attendance will rise, and the Center’s positive influence on young people will increase, strengthening the community.”
My community has raised $1118.66 for the project, 25% of the total project proposal. That means that we’re hoping to raise $3238.22, so every contribution, be it $5 or $50 means a lot. I would like to point out that although my community has raised 25% of the cost of this project, they have additionally raised funds and put in hours of unpaid volunteer labor to work on the building structure itself. This project is designed to complement the hard work they’ve already put in!
If you have any questions about this project, please let me know!
Check out my photoblog at http://maybesproutwings.tumblr.com/ for pictures of the sports center, and of my Peace Corps service generally.
