- Award Entered:
Best New Project
- Parent Organisation:
love.fútbol
- Project Host Nation:
Guatemala
- Overview of Project:
love.fútbol (LF) empowers disadvantaged communities worldwide to build simple, safe soccer fields for youth. We envision a day when all children have the opportunity to fulfill their passion for soccer. LF decreases obstacles and increases both safety and access so children have the opportunity to stay on the field and off the streets.
LF hires “natural soccer leaders,” called LF Reps (LFRs), to engage and mobilize selected LF soccer communities. LFRs are part of existing national networks (such as the Department of Physical Education in Guatemala), identify regions that exhibit demand for a field, and meet with community leaders to propose the joint-cost venture.
After a community has organized the all-volunteer labor and prepared the field base, LF invests financially into the community. LFRs coordinate the delivery of raw materials and provide ongoing project oversight. Albeit with such facilitations, the project is entirely in the community’s hands.
After a field is completed, LF passes the torch to our coalition partners – other social ventures and sport for social change organizations – to engage the community and continue the development process based on the platform of the LF field.
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Global Partner
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International Development Partner
Comments
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: 23 Jun 2009 - 21:27 BST
In founding and developing love.futbol, Drew Chafetz has shown great vision, passion, a remarkable work ethic, and an intense and unwavering commitment to enriching children and their families and communities through soccer. He is both a dreamer and a doer and is a shining example of the maxim think globally, act locally. Congratulations to Drew and to love.futbol for all that you do.
: 13 Jun 2009 - 22:23 BST
American students who have participated in travel-work programs in impoverished parts of Mexico, the Dominican Republic and other countries repeatedly tell me that football is a huge positive in the lives of the children who live there. Children with little else to look forward to benefit tremendously from setting athletic goals, pushing themselves to achieve them and being rewarded for their efforts by their peers and communities. Drew Chafetz and Love.futbol are to be commended for making this opportunity available to more children worldwide.
: 12 Jun 2009 - 15:41 BST
A wonderful idea for a new world. It is very exciting to see young adults, like Drew Chafetz, become involved in creating a better world.
: 09 Jun 2009 - 18:48 BST
We have seen an idea become a reality, despite huge obstacles and a day to day grind that discourages even the most committed. It is wonderful to see Drew's once childish love of the game transformed into a young adult's passion to enable other, less advantaged children to participate in the sport they love. Keep up the great work Drew; you are an inspiration to the rest of us!
: 09 Jun 2009 - 16:56 BST
Young people like Drew Chafetz with vision and passion and a lot of hard work will change the world. Way to go, Drew!
: 09 Jun 2009 - 10:35 BST
Football is the most popular and watched game throughout the world and children who watch it dream of emulating their heroes.The passion and incredibly hard work that must go into this project gives those children the chance to fulfill those dreams and to play and enjoy this great game.I so admire the fantastic generosity,spirit and effort that goes into this wonderful project and hope it will be rewarded. Brent
: 08 Jun 2009 - 14:19 BST
It is thrilling to witness the development of love.futbol from Drew's epiphany into a literal concrete reality. To know that so many children and communities have already benefited from his vision revitalizes my faith in the power of love and sacrifice. What a beautiful project! I am so proud of my son and the LF team!
: 08 Jun 2009 - 02:41 BST
Dear World: If you've never met Drew Chafetz and his team then, you have been under-privileged in this world. Love.Futbol is a group with that rare combustible combination of energy and gentleness that fuels the passion of a million social change agents. Together, they are focused and unstoppable. If I could live life over again and have once chance at making a difference through a sports project, it would be Love.Futbol. Drew and his team will do phenomenal things with any money that is sent their direction.
: 06 Jun 2009 - 22:02 BST
What an elegantly simple and great idea that would have instant global appeal! Maybe in the future his teams could play against each other on behalf of global harmony?
: 06 Jun 2009 - 02:31 BST
Drew is a most unusual young man, who had the goal of using his love of soccer (futbol) to accomplish something meaningful for disadvantaged young people. His imagination, dedication and achievements are exciting, and I have believed for some time that his projects should receive recognition and publicity. I would be gratified to learn that Lovefutbol will receive this award, to inspire other young people to use creative thinking in pursuit their desires to help others, and to further the opportunities for expansion of Lovefutbol.
: 05 Jun 2009 - 22:37 BST
Drew is an inspiration. What he has achieved with love.futbol is an incredible example of a selfless, passionate and committed human being. Drew has worked tirelessly and with no salary for several years to get this project off the ground. I hope his courage and determination are rewarded.
: 05 Jun 2009 - 21:33 BST
Love.futbol is a powerful and innovative concept that could benefit tens of thousands of disadvantaged children. This remarkable nonprofit venture merits support and an award. I commend Drew for his passion and commitment to a very worthy cause.
: 04 Jun 2009 - 14:52 BST
One small step for man, one large step for mankind. How refreshing that a young man just gets it. In small impoverished communities, something as simple as a football field gives hope and life to a community and its young people and a sense that the world and the future are not hopeless. Give them just enough but empower them so they realize they have a role to play in change. I applaud Drew for his efforts and devotion when so many other paths were available to him.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 23:24 BST
Drew, who had the good fortune to travel the world with his parents and sister during his formative years, did not only bring back an appreciation of the things he experienced, but also the desire to help those he saw who were less fortunate and who lived under very difficult circumstances. We have been following Drew's progress in fulfilling his dream of building football fields for the many communities abroad who could not have done it without his and his team's energy, perseverance and sheer strong belief that he and his Love Futbol team could bring happiness to these community. I am continuously amazed at the entrepreneurial spirit so many of today's young people have in wanting to better the world by helping those who don't have the means. This team is to be commended for their kindness,dedication and devotion.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 23:19 BST
luv.futbol is an imaginative undertaking by a remarkable young man which can only have benign effects in developing countries where Drew Chafitz and his colleagues are engaged. The project merits support (my family and I do this as possible) and recogntion for its innovative excellence and high minded purpose
: 03 Jun 2009 - 22:51 BST
The Greek Philospher Heraclitus once said, Man is most nearly himself when he achieves the seriousness of a child at play. It is with this seriousness that Chafetz and the love.futbol team approach their mission guided by the principle that all children should have the opportunity to be themselves and play.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 20:45 BST
Our greatest export is often the good will and kindness of our citizens interacting with those abroad. I've known Drew Chafetz for many years. Knowing his dedication and steadfast devotion to this project and the many children who benefit from love.futbol gives me great hope for the future.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 19:11 BST
These football fields are such a sound platform on which to build good health and great confidence. The name says love.futbol, but the love extends to the community and to a generation. This work truly goes beyond sport. It is brilliant and deserving.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 18:04 BST
Drew Chafetz is my hero! He is a focused, serious young man who has had a dream and seen it implemented with the success of 5 soccer fields built already, against great odds. An extremely talented soccer player himself, Drew has never run from a challenge. I have watched with increasing admiration and respect as Drew has tenaciously worked to develop this program - at great personal sacrifice to himself. He's worked without pay, used his own money, worked hard to fulfill a dream for many young, poor kids. Drew has won the respect and cooperation of many initially skeptical adult villagers - worked side-by-side with them to create, for THEIR kids, a soccer field that belongs to the community - and all that implies to the kids -- physical fitness, pride of accomplishment and ownership, camaraderie and friendship, positively engaged, and - also important - that dreams can come true! I cannot recommend this cause enough - and know that, whatever the outcome of the contest, Drew will continue with his laudable mission.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 17:58 BST
Love.futbol is a simple idea with a powerful impact. The soccer fields it builds not only provide a safe place to play a cherished sport, they also create community. They allow sports teams to have a home and therefore develop a permanent place in their communities, and there design, building and construction are labors of love by the parents, players and fans alike. What a great way to promote the growth of healthy minds and bodies and shared joy in places where there is so little of these commodities. Let's hope Drew Chafetz and his partners are enthusiastically supported so that this wonderful work can continue.
: 03 Jun 2009 - 15:25 BST
Love.futbol is one of the best, new organizations that I know. It has a deceptively simple approach: provide a venue for poor kids to play. With such a place, lots of other positive programs can be built upon that platform. Without that platform, it's obviously much harder to have such programs. Already five fields have been built in different cultures within Guatemala demonstrating the scalability of this idea. Love.futbol is a concept that can easily be transported throughout the world. Moreover, the demand for such fields in huge. Finally, the benefits that are derived from providing poor kids a place to play are immeasurable but powerful. This is a most worthy cause.
: 02 Jun 2009 - 21:29 BST
love.fútbol is a truly scalable idea meeting a global demand. Giving communities with limited resources an opportunity to better themselves creates a spirit of betterment and development. love.fútbol gives children a place where they can properly play the game they love and gives the larger community a place where they gather and be united. For this blossoming organization the beautiful game is not an abstraction but a pursuit of critical local significance.
: 01 Jun 2009 - 20:57 BST
I have watched as founder Drew has grown his idea -- hatched on a dirty, unsafe and pot-hole riddled street doubling as a soccer pitch to children in Northern Africa -- into a fully operational, quality results-driven organization. All along I have been impressed by his crystal clear sense of mission and his methodical, diligent approach to accomplishing it. Never once has he lost sight of why he started LF in the first place: to devote himself to impoverished children by passing on his deep love of fútbol to them in order to create a sense of community, safety and fun revolving around the beautiful game.
: 01 Jun 2009 - 04:58 BST
love.fútbol's impact reaches far beyond the borders of its host country, Guatemala. Drew and his dedicated team have rallied individuals in the US, Europe, and Africa around a mission that everyone can relate to. love.fútbol's vision is vast, yet attainable. An award from Beyond Sport would help equip them with more of the tools they need in order to make the vision a reality.
: 23 Mar 2009 - 02:26 GMT
I've seen the power of Love Futbol's mission first hand, when I was lucky enough to witness the inauguration of a recent field in a community near the Mexico-Guatemala border. The community, after having worked hard together to make the field a reality, was absolutely enthusiastic. Kids, boys and girls, now had a safe place to play and didn't need to walk more than a mile on a dangerous highway anymore. The simplicity, duplicability and enormous effect of Love Futbol's product are what make the initiative so ingenious, and so deserving of this award.
: 17 Mar 2009 - 21:01 GMT
I think Drew is very commited and dedicated to the success of this important project to engage and inspire young people who may otherwise not have much hope. I love that the project is local community based and as such develops local leaders to carry the project to the next level and make it a success...
: 17 Mar 2009 - 19:08 GMT
Drew is a do-er, a young man with a huge heart who has been leading tremendous change for the past two-and-a-half years - without earning a single dollar in salary. He is a role model and a change agent who inspires entire communities to believe in him and in themselves. I urge you to award Drew Chafetz a Beyond Sport Award so that he join a group of other committed do-ers - and advance his important work even more. Having already built four soccer fields in Guatemala, Drew and Love Futbol have the knowledge and experience to create widespread, systemic change.