Twilight actor Cameron Bright was in his hometown of Nanaimo on Thursday to sign autographs and help launch a youth sports fundraiser.

Bright joined city and sports officials at Island Kia to help announce the fundraising initiative that supports the non-profit sports groups Nanaimo Youth Soccer Club and the Mid Vancouver Island Tenpin Association.

The 16-year-old is a familiar face to both organizations, having played youth soccer and enjoyed outings at Splitsville Entertainment.

Organizers said the fundraiser is needed more than ever since government funding was slashed. NYSC also runs a team for autistic children as well as after-school programs.

“We have two youth sports groups in need of funding,” said organizer Mike Best on Thursday. “(The fundraiser) would go a long way to replacing some of the money.”

Several Twilight followers were also at Island Kia to catch a glimpse of Bright before he trekked to nearby Future Shop to sign autographs for hundreds of fans.

NYSC and MVITA have paired up to host a tenpin bowling extravaganza in January that will feature a celebrities doubles tournament and more than $25,000 in prizes, including a 2009 Kia Rio.

Bright bowled in the tournament last year and hopes to make an appearance in January, schedule permitting.

The third installment of the Twilight series, Eclipse, recently wrapped filming in Vancouver and Bright is in the midst of a globetrotting tour promoting New Moon.

All proceeds of the Jan. 31 event will go to the two non-profit sports groups. Event tickets for $5 can be purchased at Island Kia on Bowen Road, the NYSC soccer office in Beban Park, Splitsville on Calder Road or at the Duncan Lanes on James Street in Duncan. Tickets can also be purchased from NYSC soccer players.

For information, visit www.NanaimoSoccer.ca.

DBell@nanaimodailynews.com

© Copyright (c) Canwest News Service

FORMER Burnley and Wolves footballer Steve Kindon will be the guest speaker at Little Lever Sports Club’s annual sportsman’s dinner.

The event, which is the club’s major fundraiser to help finance the running of more than a dozen football and rounders teams, takes place on March 5 and tickets are priced at £29.

Contact Tony Lomax on 07919 166646 for tickets or further details.

Former Bolton Wanderers manager John McGovern will be the guest speaker at a sportsman’s dinner at Little Lever Cricket Club on Saturday, 7pm start.

Tickets priced £25 are available from Mike Beattie on 07956 146261.

Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s (MLSE) four professional sports teams – the Toronto Maple Leafs, Toronto Raptors, Toronto FC and Toronto Marlies -will team up with the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation (CBCF) to host their first Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend on Saturday, October 10 and Sunday, October 11 at Air Canada Centre, BMO Field and Ricoh Coliseum.

The goal of Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment’s Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend is to support creating a future without breast cancer and to raise awareness about the disease that touches the lives of thousands of Canadians each year.

This is the first year the Raptors and Marlies are supporting the CBCF. Toronto FC is celebrating its second year of support, while the Maple Leafs are in their sixth year of supporting this worthy cause.

All proceeds from MLSE’s Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend benefit the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation – Ontario Region.

“Maple Leaf Sports and Entertainment is excited to host Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend, which represents our first four team charitable initiative,” said David Hopkinson, MLSE’s senior vice-president of corporate and community partnerships. “Our organization has a strong history of support for CBCF. By combining the efforts of all of our teams we’re building awareness among a much larger audience of sports fans and television viewers, and raising more funds that support research efforts for a disease that affects tens of thousands of Canadian women and men each year.”

The Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend kicks off Saturday at 4 p.m. at the Toronto FC game against the San Jose Earthquakes. Toronto FC fans can show their support by purchasing a special pink Toronto FC jersey. Ten percent of sales proceeds from all pink TFC jerseys sold this season will be donated to CBCF. Fans can purchase the jersey at BMO Field on game day or at CentreSports, the official team store, located in Air Canada Centre’s Galleria. The players’ wives and girlfriends, along with CBCF volunteers, will collect donations at all BMO Field gates. Toronto FC players will also show their support by wearing pink game jerseys for the match.

Fans can also pledge their support by bidding on items in the Toronto FC Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend auction. For more information, visit www.torontofc.ca .

On Saturday night during their game against the Pittsburgh Penguins, the Maple Leafs players will wear and later auction their game worn jerseys, while Leafs coaches and on-air broadcasters will wear Hockey Fights Cancer ties. Leafs fans attending the game can make an in-arena donation towards the cause. Lady Leafs, the players’ wives and girlfriends, and CBCF volunteers will greet fans at Air Canada Centre gates.

The Maple Leafs Pink Ribbon Night online auction goes live Saturday at www.mapleleafs.com where hockey fans and supporters can bid on a number of items from hockey-related memorabilia to various experiential packages.

The Raptors and Marlies will host their respective Pink Ribbon Awareness events at their games Sunday, October 11.

Raptors coaching staff and broadcasters will wear a hint of pink to show their support when the Raptors host the Washington Wizards in this preseason game, while players will wear special pink ribbon shooting shirts during the pregame shootaround. Tip off is 3 p.m. at Air Canada Centre. Donations for CBCF will also be collected at all gates. Basketball fans are invited to participate in a special online auction at www.raptors.com featuring team signed sports memorabilia and experiential packages.

The Toronto Marlies will hold their breast cancer awareness afternoon at Ricoh Coliseum starting at 4 p.m. Marlies coaches and staff will wear pink ribbons to pledge their support, while player uniforms and equipment will include elements of pink demonstrating their support for the cause.

Team Up for Pink Ribbon Weekend is a community leadership initiative developed and organized by Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment.

About Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation

The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation was founded in 1986 as the first organization in the country devoted exclusively to the funding of breast cancer research, education and awareness initiatives. The Foundation continues to blaze new trails in breast cancer and breast health by directing donor dollars to world-class researchers and clinicians who are contributing to groundbreaking progress in breast cancer prevention, diagnosis, treatment and care. Since 2000, the Foundation has directed nearly $60 million to the cause in Ontario alone as a result of fundraising initiatives, hundreds of thousands of donors and the efforts of a committed volunteer network numbering in the thousands.

Kieron Seaman, front, and Harry Bullas, had a busy day keeping goal during the penalty competition at Westwoodside Playing Field Open Day

The annual Westwoodside Playing Fields open day was well attended by local people, with rides and a bouncy castle new to this year’s event.

Organisers had set themselves a fundraising target of £1,000 as a contribution to a project for an all-weather sports pitch for the villages.

Playing Fields’ Association chairman Richard Carter said the signs were good at the successful event.

He said: “We don’t do many fundraising events, so we rely on this for as much money as possible.

“It’s definitely going well.”

The association has applied to Wren for funding, but were told to raise more cash themselves first – which members are now well on the way to doing, Mr Carter said.

Grants have been awarded by North Lincolnshire Council and Haxey Parish Council to support the scheme.

People taking part in events at the fair were having a good time on Sunday afternoon.

Westwoodside Football Club were demonstrating penalty kicks. Keeper Harry Bullas, 14, of West Butterwick, said: “We started out two seasons ago.

“We got promoted in our first year and finished fifth last season.

“This is a good event.”

Stallholder Beverley Lamb, 51, was selling home-made jewellery at the Westwoodside open day.

She said: “It’s a good family day out.”

For the full story, buy today’s Scunthorpe Telegraph.

The Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament is now underway in Rafah, Gaza on a field cleared from the rubble of demolished homes. The Rebuilding Alliance, the organization I founded to rebuild war-torn communities and make them safe, just sent a shipment of 16 big boxes of gently worn sports shoes donated by hundreds of people for Gaza. Will our shipment make it through the blockade? Will it make a difference?

Overall, I am proud to tell you that through hundreds of small and large donations, we installed a portable office unit on the field just before the Ramadan Tournament began. This little building is the first step in developing a community center at the Unity Club Soccer Field, there on the edge of the Ybnah Refugee Camp in Rafah. In addition, proceeds from the GlobalGiving Ready, Set, Give competition (we won first place!) have now been fully transferred to Gaza, via the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme, so that some lights are already being installed this week. We continue fundraising through GlobalGiving.com to be able to complete the “Beam of Light Ramadan Soccer Project in Rafah” and extend tournament play (and community-building) into the night.

Why send soccer and sports shoes? Some are playing soccer barefoot on that hard-packed sand. They need shoes, but the blockade means few if any shoes are available and no jobs, no money with which to buy them. Back in the spring, Adnan in Rafah asked for used sports shoes so we put up a big sign at the Rebuilding Alliance office and hundreds of people in our neighborhood donated their gently-worn sports and soccer shoes, and uniforms. More would give too, but let’s see if we can get these through the blockade.

Yesterday, Cindy and Craig Corrie, the parents of the young American who was killed when she stood before the Israeli Army bulldozer that threatened a Palestinian family’s home, and Rachel’s friends with the Olympia Rafah Sister City Project (ORSCP), left Cairo to reach Rafah to join Rachel’s friends in Gaza for the Rachel Corrie Ramadan Soccer Tournament. We scrambled to get the shoes boxed up and sent to Cairo where Craig Corrie tried to pick them up for the mini-bus trip to Gaza. Our 16 boxes (325 pairs) arrived on Sunday. We hoped Customs would release them to the ORSCP delegation to bring the shoes with them through the blockade. As it was, the shoes were released to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry — and just the soccer uniforms already in luggage, were cleared for transit.

I have so many questions about the benefit of sending gently worn soccer shoes to Gaza. Here they have no value, but there, if we can get them through, they could mean a lot. Logistically, used sports shoes are a low-cost way to press through the blockade (no tariffs, no possible security risk, easy to pack and ship). At each step along the way, more and more people join in to help, e.g. lots of schools want to do shoe drives, the freight forwarders cut their price by half and paid for pick-up. The head of a receiving company in Cairo said that he will do all he can to help, “As a Palestinian, a Gazan, and a human being.”

I don’t know if this will be successful … it feels so small in the face of big governments’ (our’s, Egypt’s, Israel’s) misguided, intractable blockade — policies of collective punishment. I take a leap of faith (sometimes just a fragile thread) that the outpouring of goodwill here and all along their way matters. As the shipment moves forward, we are developing the grassroots and diplomatic network needed to reach our next goal: to get building materials in. “Crunchtime” is defined as a critical moment or period (as near the end of a game) when decisive action is needed. This is crunchtime for the blockade. May our collective goodwill score the winning point and end the blockade game decisively.

My team here at the office reminds me that, “Small things in life really matter.” The connection between the person who donated his shoes, her shoes to the person who receives them, that connection can brings out the best in us all. Do you agree? What does this mean to you? Please comment below. Over the next week, as the shoes and delegation near Gaza, I’ll update you on their progress — and when the shoes get stuck, I’ll ask you to call your Senators and Representatives and then thank them gracefully when the way opens.

Follow Donna Baranski-Walker on Twitter: www.twitter.com/RebuildingAll

Anna Phillips says sports gave her the confidence to try to achieve her academic and life goals. Growing up in San Diego, she participated in softball, basketball and track and was the only girl on her high school’s boy’s wrestling team. Encouraged by her family, she focused on attending George Washington University and getting a Fulbright Scholarship for the 2008-09 school year.

Ms. Phillips, 23, is hoping soccer will help change the lives of girls and women in Uganda. In 2006, while an undergraduate volunteer for Global Youth Partnership for Africa, she started the program Girls Kick It! More than 300 participants, ages 9 to 26, have been through the program since then, she said.

“Many of these women have only known strife,” she said.

Many of the girls and women have limited educational opportunities. Some have been abducted and abused by the rebel army, been married off at a young age or have suffered the after-effects of war, such as starvation and displacement to refugee camps.

“The girls practice three to five days a week and have life-skills training with a social worker,” Ms. Phillips said. “They talk about preventing HIV and AIDS, teamwork and self-respect. These are basic traits we in American society take for granted.”

The program is free, but Girls Kick It! asks that parents support the participants’ commitment.

“We have found when girls have a commitment at an early age, it is less likely they will marry young or get pregnant or contract HIV,” Ms. Phillips said.

To boost that support, Girls Kick It! staff members meet with village elders to get their blessing, and the nonprofit has hired a community member to serve as a coach. Though some women face pressure from their husbands and fathers to quit the program when it calls for them to travel to twice-yearly tournaments, Ms. Phillips said the games generally are community events with high participation.

The story of former team captain Sarah Angwech illustrates what Girls Kick It! is trying to do. Ms. Angwech, who is in her mid-20s, lost her parents — one to AIDS and one to rebel activity — when she was young. She struggled in the public school system, often missing classes because it was too dangerous to go to school. Ms. Angwech was able to turn her life around with help from Girls Kick It! She recently earned a scholarship and has dreams of becoming a physician, Ms. Phillips said.

Girls Kick It! (called Anyira Gweyo! in the Luo language) operates programs in Gulu, Uganda, and at a refugee camp in Paicho, Uganda. Jeremy Goldberg, founder of Global Youth Partnership for Africa (http://gypafrica.com), the District-based nonprofit that partners with Ms. Phillips’ organization, said Girls Kick It! is a perfect fit with GYPA’s mission of equipping future educators, leaders and citizens in Africa with the skills, tools and resources necessary to promote sustainable social change.

“I think, overall, the power of sports as a tool for personal development is critical,” he said. “Oftentimes in Africa, we find that sports is intuitive. All you need is a ball, and you can play. If you are able to organize programming around the game itself, you’ll see change. Individuals will step up to be part of a team and a community.”

Ms. Phillips earned a bachelor’s degree in international affairs from GWU. She spent last year in Uganda on a Fulbright scholarship researching the use of gender quotas in Ugandan government. She is back at the university as a Presidential Administrative Fellow and is working toward a master’s degree in international development studies.

She initially spent nine months in Uganda getting Girls Kick It! in place and has been there for extended stints since. However, the goal of the program is to have local mentors and coaches running the program.

The program operates on an annual budget of less than $10,000 and is a true grass-roots initiative in that it was built with small amounts of seed money. Ms. Phillips’ first fundraising pushes were “writing a letter to everyone I know, asking for $10,” including friends from her synagogue, Temple Micah in the Northwest Washington, and to her high school in San Diego.

Mr. Goldberg said women in Uganda can learn from Ms. Phillips as a program leader and a person.

“The work Anna is doing and her track record of accomplishment have a lot to say about her role as a mentor,” he said. “She is a positive example for women in Uganda. Having positive role models is an important asset to the programming.”

updated 10:20 a.m. PT, Tues., Aug 4, 2009

Wade Payne / AP

Watching your child play soccer may be priceless, but in David Haase’s case, he must pony up at least $135 so his 11-year-old daughter Morgan can play at her public school in Knoxville, Tenn.

Soccer is good exercise, good for developing coordination and just good fun, but if David Haase wants his sixth-grader to play it at school, he’ll have to come up with $135 to make it happen.

What will he get for his money? The use of a uniform for 11-year-old Morgan, and the privilege for her to attend practice. He must also supply a ball, cleats and shin guards if she wants to join the team at Karns Middle School in Knoxville, Tenn.

“It may get expensive, but I would rather give up something myself than I would give up something for our child,” he said. “Those school activities are so important to a child’s growth.”

While parents have always had to pay for private piano lessons and cough up Little League fees, such pay-to-participate and pay-to-play charges imposed by public schools around the country are on the rise, often as a worst-case alternative to canceling activities altogether in the bad economy.

The practice has gone up and down since the recession-tainted 1970s. A 2004 USA Today survey found 34 state high school associations required participation fees. Now, dozens of cash-strapped school districts are relying on them to supplement squeezed budgets and fatigued PTAs.

$50 for this, $100 for that
In May, the board of education in Hartford, Conn., approved a budget that relies on parents paying $100 in participation fees, with a $200 yearly cap and a family cap of $400. In Manchester, N.H., schools are considering charging parents $50 to $100 for extracurricular activities per child.

Parents in Richmond Heights, Ohio, may have to pay up to $1,000 in fees next school year. It will cost $350 for a student to participate in a sport, band, choir or cheerleading. The charge for other activities, including the National Honor Society, will be $100.

Wade Payne / AP Sixth-grader Morgan Haase loves to play soccer. Before she can join the team at her public school in Knoxville, Tenn., her dad must supply a ball, cleats and shin guards.

Robert Kanaby, director of the National Federation of State High School Associations, which counts more than 7.3 million participants in school sports around the country, said the trend is disturbing but still better than the alternative — dumping athletics and other activities for lack of money.

“The educational value in school sports in incredible,” he said. “We believe it’s an important part of growing and maturing.”

Others in school athletics agree, but they said fees in schools not only sting parents. They put coaches and kids in tough spots, too.

Jerry Snodgrass, an assistant commissioner for the Ohio High School Athletic Association and the former athletic director at Findlay High School, where Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger played, posed this predicament: If a benched student pays to be on the team, should he or she be guaranteed significant game time over starters?

“Your mindset may become, I’m an eighth man on a team, I’m not going to play that much so what’s the point?” Snodgrass said. “Schools can really struggle with their numbers.”

Bake sales, jewelry sales, walkathons
Some parents have banded together for a slightly different approach to paying fees per child or per family.

Last year, parents in the Wantagh school district on New York’s Long Island mobilized under a threat to cut extracurricular activities. A dad, Don Desroches, led the charge, raising more than $650,000 for sports, music and drama. The fundraising took a few months and included endless bake sales, walkathons and jewelry sales. As a result, the activities stayed.

“You name it, we did it,” Desroches said. “We really had no other choice.”

When the budget passed this year, there was no threat of cancellation, Desroches said.

Relying on parents in bad economic times sometimes becomes the norm in a school as families resign themselves to paying extra year after year, Kanaby said.

“In some situations schools are charging students to participate regardless, a practice that’s accepted … from class to class and generation to generation,” he said.

That’s what happened at Karns Middle School, said Haase, who mentors student athletes at the University of Tennessee. The soccer fee was in place at Morgan’s school when he moved to the area years ago from New York, and parents have accepted it as part of life, he said.

“I think a lot of parents have just gotten so accustomed to it,” Haase said. “You’re going to pay for it and you’ll make the sacrifices of other things, in some other area.”

For Morgan, it means the chance to play sixth grade soccer and hone her midfielding skills.

“She really loves to play,” Haase said. “And that’s important.”

A Little League fund raiser that always works is an event that is scheduled around the time when participant’s families congregate. Picture day, championship game day, or even team tryouts is a great time to host your event.

Little League fund raising should center on the child, the team, and their families. What do kids like that could raise much needed funds for championship game travel, new uniforms or equipment, or general team expenses? Yes, food and games! 

Set up a hot dog stand, sell donated baked goods, drinks, and other food that would appeal to the crowd. Rent inflatables for your Little League fund raiser so that players and siblings can bounce, tumble, and roll in the fun. Most local party supply outlets rent this type of equipment. It will make a profit, but the point is to draw the crowd.

To further boost your Little League fund raising efforts, offer players and guests the chance to clock their throwing speed with a radar gun.

If you don’t have a batting cage available, set up a safe area with a backdrop with a strike zone on it and charge a dollar or two per 2 throws. Between all the players, neighborhood kids, siblings, and parents, you’ll always have a line at this type of activity. 

Little League fund raising ideas are as endless as your imagination. Ask parents to host their own fun activity table. Face painting, hand-made items with the team colors, or even a raffle table work well. 

Keep it simple so that everyone has a good time while raising money for their favorite little star. The money you raise could help ease the financial burden when the team makes it to the playoffs!

Fun is what it’s all about when planning your Little League fund raiser.