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Alexandra Christ: Bringing joy to refugee children and to other poor children.
Like many of us, Alexandra Christ ("Kris -T"), an executive assistant in a San Francisco Bay Area venture capital firm, saw on TV, refugee children in grim camps and wanted to help them.
What she did next is bringing joy to as many of those children as she can.
(Story continues from "Read More")
Because soccer is played by children the world over, Alexandra started Peace Joy Soccer, to buy new soccer balls and give them to these poor children.
Alexandra raised the money to buy 1,250 - soccer balls, and also bubble mix, so kids could play and just be kids.
And she asked her donors and others to write cards with pictures as messages of hope to the children, which many happily did.
Alexandra and her volunteers then went to Athens where there are numerous refugee camps.
But Greece has a tough economy and many Greek children also have no soccer balls.
Working with the Mayor's office in Athens, she sent 500 â€" soccer balls to Greece's schools.
"I wanted to uplift the [Greek] children and let them know that amidst their economic crises, they too mattered."
In the refugee camps, in addition to soccer balls, "I passed out bubbles to the kids in one camp and my clothes were being tugged on and I was swarmed by children and their parents."
"Once the bubbles were passed out, I watched children from West Africa blow their first bubble and their faces lit up. One of the girls was about 8 years old and came and sat on my lap."
"She put her arms around me, kissed me on the cheek and said, ‘I love you.' She ran off and blew bubbles with her friends. They were clapping and laughing."
What's next? Peace Joy Love is buying more balls and bubble mix for the refugee children, and more balls for the many poor Greek children.
It is also collecting soccer uniforms U.S. children have outgrown, to handout in Greece.
Despite her full-time job, by using her vacation time, today, May 23rd, Alexandra is arriving once again in Greece to return to the camps
"I believe some of our greatest gifts in this lifetime are love, connection and joy and Peace Joy Soccer is bringing that everywhere we go."
Editor's Note: To learn more, please click on this email interview I did with Alexandra. It will touch your heart. You can also visit her website here, and her Facebook page, here.
Thank you to my friend Kathleen Jacoby. http://www.kathleenjacoby.blogs.com/ for introducing us to Alexandra, and to Alexandra for telling us her story.
In the next KazanToday:
A foster mother to over 100-children.
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