Sportswear Donations for PNG!
In the spring of 2008, Hope 81 began organizing its very first pilot project. To kick things off, we held an event in Tokyo's Yoyogi Park, on Earth Day (04.20.2008). The aim was simply to stop wasting and start helping, specifically in areas of global poverty relief and environmental sustainability.

This is Tokyo, so we knew our fashion-conscious youth in this city were always on the hunt for what's next in sportswear brands, styles, colors, patterns, etc. That, in combination with a lack of available options for donating or recycling their clothing meant that huge quantities of sportswear were going to waste on a regular basis. We couldn't imagine allowing this seemingly endless cycle of waste to go on any longer...so we started up our sportswear donation campaign.

By rallying Tokyo's local community of youth athletes, professional athletes, sporting goods stores, artists, designers, private sponsors and other supporters, we found there were plenty of people ready and willing to take action. With that willingness, in our first year of the campaign we received an abundance of re-usable/out-of-season/new sportswear items for donation to our charity in Papua New Guinea. Hope 81 Founder Jason Hutson (pictured above, with 3rd graders at Yenkenai Primary School) then made the first delivery of over 200 sportswear items in November of 2009, traveling to PNG's Western Province of Daru-Kiunga.

After a long and exciting journey into some of the world's most remote terrain, Jason was then greeted by Fr. Yohanes of the Daru-Kiunga Diocese and welcomed into the local villages. During his stay, Jason spent time in Matkomnai, Yenkenai and Tapko villages, distributing the sportswear uniforms and introducing some basic fitness activities to the children. He also gave a special 'Health & Wellness' talk to a group of older youth at Matkomnai. At the end of his stay, Jason created a special fitness program -- suited to fit the needs of each local village -- as a way to encourage those communities to take on a more active role throughout the year (in between our annual shipments of sportswear). All future sportswear items will be distributed as incentives or rewards for the student's individual participation in the fitness program. In total, the project will assist nearly 400 schoolchildren, youth and community members in PNG. We are thankful for the efforts being made on both ends, from Tokyo to Daru-Kiunga, and look forward to hearing from our friends in PNG with updates throughout the year (via Fr. Yohanes).

With this first big step, Hope 81 is now working to find a way to reach more of the world's impoverished communities in the months and years ahead. Any new sponsors, partners or volunteers interested in helping grow our relief efforts, please email us today!