such a wonderful person and organization

designbyroe · Post by **designbyroe** » Sun May 10, 2009 3:34 pm

from seestjohn.com

met Dean Doeling in person for the first time yesterday afternoon at Morgan’s Mango, where he hosted a small gathering to talk about his project, Using Sports for Social Change.

Dean, who has been a frequent visitor to St. John, tell of an incident that he witnessed on one of his trips to the island when he, “noticed that the kids were outside playing with a (one) flat soccer ball and also noticed that the basketball hoops did not have nets on them, and some were not even usable. Maybe they didn’t even have basketballs to play with.”

It was true, the kids often didn’t have basketballs to play with. From speaking with St. John residents, Dean heard that the Schools on St. John were lacking in equipment and that the prevailing opinion was that they were not optimistic about the prospect of government support.

Thus, an idea and a project was born. As Dean’s position is Senior Production Artist at Nike Corporation, he felt that he could use Nike as a resource to supply St. John schools as well as other sports and fitness programs with equipment to play with.

This month, Dean’s organization, Using Sports for Social Change, was instrumental in getting Nike to send an assortment of 100 basketballs, footballs, soccer balls and volleyballs to St. John where they will be distributed by Paul Devine, the director of the St. John Community Foundation.

Another example of Dean’s work is the donation of new Nike softball gloves for use in the Ruby Rutnik Memorial Softball Tournament.

Good work Dean!

Sun4MySoul · Post by **Sun4MySoul** » Sun May 10, 2009 3:48 pm

This is VERY COOL! Thanks for sharing!

lprof · Post by **lprof** » Sun May 10, 2009 4:03 pm

more on this subject:

http://www.virgin-islands-on-line.com/f ... hlight=lex
these excellent videos were done by Dean Doeling

thanks for bringing it to light again with this update...perhaps we all could do more....

Iluvstjohn · Post by **Iluvstjohn** » Sun May 10, 2009 4:17 pm

pay it forward!
I love this sort of stuff!
cool dude, for sure....I'd buy him a drink on Jost, anyday!

Tracy in WI · Post by **Tracy in WI** » Sun May 10, 2009 6:55 pm

Great story - thanks for sharing! How sad though that the funding isn't already in place for these sorts of things.

LMG · Post by **LMG** » Sun May 10, 2009 9:53 pm

This is a really, really great grassroots sort of program for the kids of STJ. Anyone who grew up involved in activity, sports, or just playing kickball in their cul-de-sac can understand how important this can be for the youth community of STJ.

Currently, Using Sports for Social Change has a LOT of donated sporting equipment to get down to STJ from the Pacific Northwest.

I hadn't brought this to the board yet because, as you all know, getting things to STJ works on island time sometimes. But now I see this is as great an opportunity as any.

If you're interested in helping in any way (donations, you work for a shipping company, any suggestion at all) please PM me.

Thank you!

stjohnjulie · Post by **stjohnjulie** » Mon May 11, 2009 6:51 am

I too was waiting to bring this up. I've been in contact with Dean for many months now and recently met him in person. This program has the potential to change the lives of the children on St. John for the better. We have struggled over the years in offering organized sports and having equipment for the kids to use in school and other programs. Dean's heart is so big, I really don't know how he can keep it in his chest.
If you are interested in helping this effort, I urge you to contact Dean. This cannot be done alone and everyone can offer something. Right now Dean has a basement full of sports equipment that he is trying to figure out how to get here. When he came, he brought a large bag with about 100 deflated balls in it. All of you here are good at giving back to St. John, and have lots of good ideas, so maybe you can help us figure out how to get things done.
Thanks so much to all of you!

lprof · Post by **lprof** » Mon May 11, 2009 8:44 am

LMG wrote:This is a really, really great grassroots sort of program for the kids of STJ. Anyone who grew up involved in activity, sports, or just playing kickball in their cul-de-sac can understand how important this can be for the youth community of STJ.

Currently, Using Sports for Social Change has a LOT of donated sporting equipment to get down to STJ from the Pacific Northwest.

I hadn't brought this to the board yet because, as you all know, getting things to STJ works on island time sometimes. But now I see this is as great an opportunity as any.

If you're interested in helping in any way (donations, you work for a shipping company, any suggestion at all) please PM me.

Thank you!

I do not recall how you are involved with this project so please forgive me for asking now. The first I knew was from the youtube videos and visiting Dean's website.
If much equipment is ready to go, the collection of funds to ship everything in one crate at one time makes sense to me, and if someone on this forum has a "connection" for shipping, that would be helpful. Are the mechanics already in place for distributing once on the island? I have no idea how some of the other fundraising that has passed through this forum has worked but it does seem that there are ways.
Thanks LMG and stjohnjulie for your letting us know about this continuing need and for being involved...lets get those sports going!

LMG · Post by **LMG** » Mon May 11, 2009 9:06 am

lprof wrote:
I do not recall how you are involved with this project so please forgive me for asking now. The first I knew was from the youtube videos and visiting Dean's website.
If much equipment is ready to go, the collection of funds to ship everything in one crate at one time makes sense to me, and if someone on this forum has a "connection" for shipping, that would be helpful. Are the mechanics already in place for distributing once on the island? I have no idea how some of the other fundraising that has passed through this forum has worked but it does seem that there are ways.
Thanks LMG and stjohnjulie for your letting us know about this continuing need and for being involved...lets get those sports going!

Forgive me for not explaining further in my previous post.
I've been in contact with Dean for several months now in reasearching and brainstorming on how to get the dontated goods to STJ.

Amazingly enough, the shipping from the U.S. (Miami port) is not the difficult (read: most costly) part and Tropical Shipping has been very helpful. The cost is minimal compared to the shipping across the U.S.

I've been tossing around fund-raising ideas and this forum was definitely one of them. Judging from the great success of the school supplies drive, I know there is great possibility!

So, yes if you have any suggestions or ideas for shipping possibilities, I'd love to hear them. You can contact Dean, as well, of course. I'm confident we'll get this stuff to STJ some way, some how this summer!

Thanks for any help you're able to give!

stjohnjulie · Post by **stjohnjulie** » Sat May 16, 2009 8:37 am

Not sure if any of you have been keeping an eye on the VI Daily news, but they ran a 3 part report about the state of high school sports in St. Thomas/St. John district. It is a very concerning situation. They canceled baseball for this season after one game, and they are canceling the 2009 football season before it even starts. These kids here are really getting ripped off. We need help, and we need help fast. There has been an upswing in youth crime, and it is no wonder why. The government is failing our youth, they are failing our community. If you have the time, please look up the articles on VI Daily from Wed-Fri, here is the link for the first one, http://www.virginislandsdailynews.com/i ... d=17635741

If any want to help, please contact Dean Doeling. The more help we have, the stronger our voice, the more change we can make. http://usingsportforsocialchange.com/
Thank you all.

lprof · Post by **lprof** » Sat May 16, 2009 9:11 am

Come on forum folks...let's get moving on this...
click Dean's website http://usingsportforsocialchange.com
and donate...paypal starts at $5.00 and up; checks are welcome; plus an active donation site
let's help the island kids grow healthier and happier...

lprof · Post by **lprof** » Tue May 19, 2009 6:15 am

Good Morning Forum!

Please read http://usingsportforsocialchange.com

This is a movement that is up and going that will help the children of St John...and that makes a brighter future for everyone there. We support the park; we support individuals there...this is the group that can least help themselves and we can help.

Just a small donation will do...

Thanks for taking a moment to learn. Dean is linking to us and I am hoping that he may join this very interesting and caring group soon.

Edit: For some reason, unknown to me, the link only works once, but it is correct. Please check it out the old fashioned way...type it in.

LMG · Post by **LMG** » Tue May 19, 2009 9:00 am

Thanks for bringing this up again!

There are a lot of people who've been willing to help in little ways, and it's all going to add up!

CindyM · Post by **CindyM** » Tue May 19, 2009 10:15 am

I sent my online donation on Saturday. Very simple if you have PayPal-almost too simple~

This is a great project. My 21 year-old son is a college basketball player, and we have fond memories of him as a 14 year-old carrying his basketball with him onto the plane en route to our first family vacation on St. John. A highlight of the trip for him was playing basketball with the local kids at the basketball courts on South Shore road. Hopefully someday those kids will have the same opportunities that our children have here in the states.

Dean · Post by **Dean** » Tue May 19, 2009 12:09 pm

Hey everyone!

I just want to say "thank you" for all of your nice comments, donating to this initiative and for visiting my website. Good things are happening both on and off this wonderful board. Because of your donations thus far and the other interest generated around this initiative, I will soon be sending down 20 more balls of various types down to the youth and community of St. John.

I will also be revamping my website a bit on the "donation" page to offer a "ship what you want" program. This will allow you to see what balls I have in inventory and the exact cost of shipping one or several items down to St. John. You can pick and choose what you want to ship with the money you donate!

Remember: I already have almost 300 sports balls waiting to get down to St. John and more are coming in. I just need help in covering the shipping costs.

Thank you, THANK YOU for being so kind and spreading the word.

Sincerely,

Dean Doeling
www.usingsportforsocialchange.com

usvi-on-line