These are Holy Days

Beautiful Tables

Many prayers were said, and they were answered!  Our first big fundraiser for the Ubuntu Football Academy was a resounding success!  The whole event was simply fantastic. The vibe, people's excitement, the food, the game, they speakers, the way the boys presented themselves, the decor, it was all perfect!  I simply can't say it enough.  One of my favorite quotes from the evening was when my wife Sarah would lean over and say, "Can you believe this is your fundraiser?  I feel like we must be at somebody else's event."  The school we are partnering with, Sun Valley Primary and Silvermine Academy, just went way above the call of duty on this event.  Seriously, they thought of EVERY single detail.  I had almost nothing to do the day of the event.  The decor they created rivaled something the illustrious Karen Latta would have put together.  They had decorated the tables beautifully, put pictures up of our boys, had artwork from the school around, had 2 different slide shows, it was AMAZING!

Great Room for all the Fun

The night started with an exhibition match out on their field.  We invited one of the clubs from our league to come play us.  Their coach also attends Hillsong a bit, so we thought he would be the most likely person to want to support what we are doing.  They came almost an hour to play.  During the game we had music playing and the guests were served appetizers and drinks.  The school has a hospitality program, so those students were responsible for all of that.  Since the field is pretty short we played 9 vs 9 and our boys played so well.  They knew the night was important, so they played hard, but they also were relaxed and had fun with it.  People were so complementary about the way they played and how well coached they were.  DUH!  :)  

Chadley showing his skills during the game.

Carl pulling away as crowd watches on.

After the game we moved everyone into the school hall for our presentations & dinner.  Nigel PIerce, one of the very popular DJ from the local radio station was our MC (it would like having Bob from G105 there).  He started off sharing about his own motivation for being there, showed our promo video, and then continued sharing about the unique characteristics of the Academy.  That was all done really well, especially because he continued to poke fun at Mike for being a Liverpool fan.

Nigel Pierce from Good Hope FM

Before eating we asked Phil Dooley from Hillsong to say the blessing.  He took the liberty to say a few things about me and Michael and was so complimentary of what has already transpired.  He even slipped in how well we've done on the field, which was great because we hadn't planned another time to do that.  We then ate a delicious meal of salads and lamb.  It was so good!!  I wish I hadn't been the one hosting so that I could have mauled some more of it.


As dinner finished Gavin Keller, the Headmaster of the Sun Valley Group of Schools, presented on the school, and it's uniqueness.  He is so compelling and does such a great job really trying to push to educate today's generation of kids.  There were parents there that send their kids to other private schools, even the American International School, and they were saying that they were transferring their kids to Sun Valley the next day!  It was a great showcase for the school, and painted a clear picture of why Silvermine is the right place for our boys.
Nigel then returned to explain the needs and the costs associated with that.  Guests were given a pledge card and asked to consider what they could do over the next 5 years.

Michael with former pro Neil Van Schalkwyk & Nigel Pierce

Casey speaking with Bryan Tennant & his Guests

Michael and I finished up by thanking a few guests, like the school, Nigel, and somebody that sponsored all our wine for the event.  We then invited people to join us for desert over at the High School next door.  There they could see the facilities (it's basically 3 adjoining houses that they bought and have remodeled to suit the needs) and visit with the boys that had been eating their own dinner separately.  The boys were shy at first, but eventually started chatting with the guests and, especially, with the older hospitality students! I was especially proud of their skills with the ladies!  People kept telling me how impressed they were the boys.  I wasn't sure who they were talking about!  :)

People actually stayed around for quite a while chatting with each other and the boys.  The vibe was so great that they just didn't want to leave.  Neither did I!  We left so excited and expectant that God had really provided for us.  It wasn't until we got home that we realized that the stack of pledge cards in our hand was the blank ones.  Whoops!  So, Friday morning I fetched the completed ones from the school.  Basically, just from the cards filled out on the evening, we raised enough to guarantee that we can pay the school fees for the 11 boys that we need to educate next year!!  (The other 5 are already in good schools).  Also, several people that we expect will really come to the table for us in the future weren't able to come.  So, we are very confident that God will provide the budget we seek.  We also will be asking the parents to contribute towards their uniforms, transportation, and books.  Plus, we know we can get some things donated that we have on our budget.

Hillsong Table enjoying conversation.
Also includes 2 Frenchmen, 1 from Holland, & 3 Americans!

So, there you have it.  A REALLY LONG SUMMARY, of an amazing night!!  I wish I could tell you more!!  I could go on FOREVER!  Though this night was a great success we are NO WHERE CLOSE to being finished raising the funds that we need.  Please share our story with others and consider who we might be able to approach.  We'll be in the States in November and would love to meet with people there at that time.

So stinking pumped,
Casey

Carl, Jesse, Rory, and Josh flirting with the Older Ladies!

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