Have you been following the Winter Olympic Games in Torino?
Were you inspired by the remarkable act of speed skater Joey Cheek?

After winning the 500-meters at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games, Joey Cheek said he would donate his $25,000 bonus from the U.S. Olympic Committee to Right To Play, an organization of former Olympic, Paralympic and professional athletes worldwide who support using sport for development, health and peace. Right To Play is operated by Johann Olav Koss, the Norwegian who won three golds at the 1994 Lillehammer Games and inspired Cheek to take up speedskating.

Here’s a quick look at what Right To Play does:

Right To Play is an athlete-driven international humanitarian organization that uses sport and play as a tool for the development of children and youth in the most disadvantaged areas of the world.

Mission: To improve the lives of children in the most disadvantaged areas of the world by using the power of sport and play for development, health and peace.

Healthier, Happier Children: Well designed sport and play programs help guide children on a positive path to healthy development. In addition to the physical benefits, sport and play programs enhance holistic development, help foster resilience, and create a meaningful connection to adults. Sport and play also teach important values and life skills including leadership, self-confidence, teamwork, conflict resolution, discipline, respect and fair play.

Stronger Communities and Sustained Impact: Right To Play works closely with communities to help set up the networks and infrastructure necessary to support sustainable local ownership of our sport and play programs. Right To Play also trains local youth to be coaches to expand the reach of our programs and to impart valuable leadership skills to the next generation.

So here’s the deal: Carol and I think this is a really worthy organization, one whose goals fit deeply with the philosophy of Grow With the Flow. We want to support them. Hoping to make our contribution amount to more, we’ll add $20 to our own contribution for each contribution we hear about from readers of this site. Just drop us an email, and we’ll keep count of how many Grow With the Flow readers contribute.

Your gift will help Right To Play:

• Save lives by using the power of sport to communicate HIV education and prevention messages, as well as immunization education.
• Build stronger communities by empowering and training local youth as Coaches role models. This creates the transfer of job and leadership skills to local individuals, and helps to set up community networks, councils and infrastructure.
• Create more peaceful communities through the normalization and social re-integration of former child soldiers and refugees, and also through peace-building efforts in areas of conflict (e.g. the Middle East, Liberia).
• Develop healthier, happier children through physical, social and emotional development. We can introduce joy and fun into their lives while teaching them key life skills and values.

Click here to
Donate to Right to Play

Then drop me an email, so we’ll be able to chip in our share.