Our Cause - Right To Play

As some of you may know, Parmasters Golf Training Centers, and all franchise owners, support Right To Play (WARNING: Don't visit the Right To Play website if you don't enjoy the sound of children playing and laughing.). One dollar from each paid golf lesson goes to Right To Play. In addition, our centers will run other fundraisers. Parmasters Memphis did so earlier this year.

Here’s a year-end update from Right To Play. They do exceptional work. I’m sure they won’t mind my plagiarism.


As the year draws to a close, I am pleased to take this opportunity to update you on the successes of Right To Play in 2006, and give you a glimpse into what we have planned for 2007.

The year got off to a great start at the Torino Olympic Games. The generosity of speed skaters Joey Cheek, Clara Hughes and Yang Yang A., after their gold medal wins, spurred an incredible boost in awareness and fundraising for Right To Play. That momentum stayed with us throughout the entire year.

We were excited to begin several new projects this year: working with Palestinian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan; returned refugees and internally displaced persons in Liberia; and working in Tsunami affected communities in Thailand and Indonesia. We also laid the ground work to begin in Sri Lanka. This brought our total to 46 projects implemented in 22 countries in 2006. In 2007, we look forward to starting a project in The People’s Republic of China and seven new projects in current project countries.

I'd like to take this chance to highlight the incredible work at our new project in Lebanon. This project was begun in March 2006, and by the time war broke out in July, the local Project Coordinators had been hired and trained, the offices were set up and 140 coaches from 50 local NGOs were trained to run Right To Play activities in summer camps. Although the war meant the cancellation of summer camps, Right To Play staff refused to stand idly by. Right To Play Lebanon coordinated relief work, carried out sport and play activities for approximately 5500 Palestinian and Lebanese children displaced by the war and even conducted training workshops for 32 new coaches. As a result of this work, Right To Play, a relatively new organization in Lebanon, has been recognized as a non-political, non-partisan organization that helps children on all sides of a conflict and has gained the respect not only of the local community but also of other NGOs.

There are a few other stories this year that also stand out in my mind: I was particularly struck by the story of eighteen year old Right To Play coach Justin Cuna in Mozambique. Justin grew up on the outskirts of Maputo, Mozambique, in a community that makes its living off the city’s main garbage dump. Like the other children, Justin used to spend his days playing in the garbage dump, looking for toys or food. Now, Justin is a Right To Play coach running sport and play activities twice a week for children in his own community. Justin says “Now the kids don’t wake up in the morning to go play in the dump, they wake up to play football with Right To Play”.

Another story that remains in my mind is the story of the 10-year-old Afghan girl named Samiva whose face was disfigured when the Taliban set fire to her family's home forcing them to flee to Pakistan. In Pakistan her family would not permit her to attend school as they were afraid the other children would make fun of her. Local Right To Play Assistant Coach Tamina knew that a key principle of Right To Play is the inclusion of girls and children with disabilities and so determined to do everything in her power to help the girl. Through her persistent encouragement, the parents agreed to allow their daughter to attend school and participate in Right To Play programs. At first she was very shy and frightened but, through the power of sport and play, she has gradually become more and more active and gained great confidence. Thousands more girls are benefiting from the renewed hope that Right To Play programs bring, in partnership with Pakistan’s Insan Foundation.

These children and youth are the reason that we continually work to improve our organization. One of our key initiatives in 2006 has been the continuation of a strategic decentralization process. In 2005, we made the decision to decentralize, shifting field operations responsibilities from Headquarters to Regional and Country Offices. We made this decision in order to best support program excellence, enhance sustainability and more effectively manage program growth by moving decision making closer to the projects. We now have four Regional offices with Regional Managers in place and eight strong local Country Managers. In 2007, we will continue this process by hiring more local leads including nine more Country Managers and nine Program Managers.

In 2006 we also embarked on a process to review and improve all of our Program material, including all curriculum, modules and training. This process was infused with a great deal of momentum after hiring our new Director of Program this fall. Other important areas of focus this year have been the continued improvement of our logistical systems and our first step towards moving from short term project funding proposals towards multi year program proposals using Results Based Management.

I’d like to thank all of our supporters, partners, staff, volunteers and friends for helping to make 2006 a great year for Right To Play. All of this could not be done without you and your support! We are now looking forward to 2007 with great anticipation as we expect to see the positive results of our hard work this year through the increased quality of our programs and our ability to reach even more children.

If you have not already contributed to Right To Play in 2006, and would like to do so, it is not too late. Just log onto our special holiday campaign on the Right To Play website.

Wishing you a safe and happy holiday season,
Johann O. Koss
President and CEO
Right To Play