Haiti has been in desperate need in many ways for many years. This recent tragedy has only brought their plight to center stage.  The question is…what can we do to help?

At ISF our desire is to make the most of our sphere of influence and devise a long term plan that will impart the most good for those in need.  Our immediate plan is to mobilize a team to travel to Haiti to perform an initial assessment of the situation as soon as it is safe and we will not be a burden to those already in need. We are already in contact with three different groups there. Once we determine their greatest needs we will map out a three year plan to mobilize volunteer teams to assist in helping rebuild orphanages, conduct sports clinics, build soccer fields and/or basketball courts, and anything else we can do to help.  We know that the humanitarian needs will be great. But, we also understand that children need to play.  No matter how dire the situation, children and adults alike need the opportunity for recreation.

So, for now we are going to try to raise as much money as possible for our work in Haiti.  As I said, we will develop a three-year plan to mobilize volunteers, provide financial support and help them rebuild.  To donate just click here and indicate you would like to support Haiti.  You can be certain that your donations will be used for this specific effort.

Our first volunteer team is headed out June 29 and will return July 15. More trips will be added as the plan develops.  If you would like to join our June team, please email Sara Beth at sarabeth@sportsmissions.com and let her know you want to help.

There are also plans to help the children put on their first Christmas Play, complete with angles and wise men.  On Christmas there will be gifts, popcorn, a movie and cokes for everyone!  This project is not only going to bless the children that receive the gifts, but what a great way to connect our hearts with the true meaning of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Christ with our Kenyan friends.

The team will be leaving Sunday December 20th and returning the 28th.  At this point we have all the gifts we can carry with us, but if you would like to help with the project you can go to the donation page and just indicate Tumaini Christmas and your support will be used to purchase things for the center while we are there.

The team at Three Stream Web Development (which includes two ISF alum) has done an amazing job of making our site user friendly and awesome looking at the same time!  Whatever you do, don’t forget to sign up for email alerts (in the footer) so that you can keep up with everything that is ISF!

In addition to our new website we are also diving into depths of the social web.  Here are some places you can find us:
Facebook – International Sports Federation
Flickr – ISF Photostream
Twitter – twitter.com/teamisf
Linkedin – linkedin.com/companies/international-sports-federation

Please add us, become a fan, tweet, swoop, or whatever people do on all this stuff.  We are hoping that this will be an opportunity to reconnect with some of our alumni from the past, as well as a way that we can connect with others looking to share the love of Christ through sports.  We look forward to hearing from you.