Dear friends,
This story introduces our football team. StepUp football team was organized 2 years ago. It mostly consists of our current students, but it is open to our graduates and those orphanage graduates who do not participate in our education programmes. For the latter group it can be viewed as a stepping point to mainstream education or training.
We organized football team because we believe that sport is a powerful tool of changing lives and simply because majority of our students are males and they like fooball.
Recently StepUp football team got a new coach - Andrey. Under his command Step Up participated in the third Blitz Football League and came the third in this tournament.
The players and coach shared their impressions about this tournament.
Sergey, player: "This tournament was a transitional moment, a starting point. It was the first tournament with our new coach. Many things, such as communication, understanding what the coach is expecting from us, we began from scratch. And you need some time for such things to bear fruit. With our new coach we have a new arrangement in our team that pleases us, and will lead to better results in the future. We hope that during the new tournament we will do better, refine our game and win. We have a real chance. You always have a chance to win, even if your competitor is stronger."
Andrey, coach: "I didn’t see how the team played before, but, in general, I’m surprised by their performance, their understanding of the game and their efforts. I am grateful to some players who can sacrifice results to the greater good of building a true team, to making the team grow and develop, and to making others play better. This was one of the most important things that happened during this tournament — it is not only victories that are important, but also the growth and development of our players."
Ruslan, player: "We have a very close-knit team, and great guys who can play better than they do at the moment. It’s cool when there are such guys. By and large, our team is young, and promising. In the future we are planning to take part in the Russian Cup... We are buying new football uniform. Everything will be great!"
I attached our March newsletter for your kind attention. There are more news, photos and longer stories inside.
A big thank you to all our supporters!!
Sincerely,
Anna
Dear friends,
At last our long summer has ended and Step Up has begun its ordinary - interesting and busy - life. Over the long years of the Centre's work it has become a pleasant tradition to celebrate the opening of the academic year, to meet our graduates, teachers, guests and friends and mark the day in a friendly atmosphere.
This year's opening ceremony took place on September, 17. As always we congratulated our graduates on the new step in their life they are about to embark on - they were all admitted to colleges, and one of them was admitted to university. Many young people continue studying at Step Up even after their graduation, taking individual classes. Our teachers are always eager to help.
About a year ago we started a fundraising campaign at the GlobalGiving network! Over this year we received about $10,000 of your donations! Thank you to each and every one of you for making this to happen.
Your donations comprised about 25% of all personal donations collected by Step Up during the year.
Today we are starting a new initiative! This campaign is very specific. We ESPECIALLY WELCOME RECURRING DONATIONS starting from $10.
$10 will provide 1 hour of classes for 5 students.
$160 covers all tuition costs for 1 student for 1 month.
A generous anonymous donor has agreed to match 100% of new monthly donations from December 1, 2012 through December 31, 2012. New recurring donations created on GlobalGiving.org will be matched 1-to-1 up to $100 per donor per project.
You can make you donations by choosing "Monthly Recurring" option at our progect page: http://www.globalgiving.org/projects/giving-russian-orphans-an-equal-start-in-life/
Full terms and conditions of this campaign can be found at: http://www.globalgiving.org/leaderboards/recurring-challenge-2012/
I attached an annual report for the 2011-2012 schooling year and our September newsletter for your kind attention.
Thank you very much for all your support.
Sincerely,
Anna
Dear Step Up friends!
Since our last report, we've been extraordinarily busy starting classes in the new school year! Our students continue to amaze us with their creativity, resilience, and motivation to achieve positive goals. As always, we could not do what we do without your support (on-line and locally).
Here are just a few of the results of the previous school year:
Your support not only helps us to provide opportunities for orphanage graduates, it sends a powerful message of your belief in their abilities to choose positive new life paths. We are so grateful!
I attached a Step Up Newsletter for June 2012. There are more news and longer stories inside.
Sincerely, Anna
