Shooting Touch, Inc.

Shooting Touch Boston uses the power of basketball to promote racial, gender, and health equity for 200 urban girls of color through increased physical activity, health services, and mentoring.  The impact of sports participation on girls is life-changing, impacting all aspects of their life now and into their futures including physical health, academic achievement, and economic stability.  Through this, these young girls of color are empowered to confidently and purposefully overcome current as well as future social and racial inequalities.

Right now, 71% of Shooting Touch Boston girls live in neighborhoods where there are more cases of violent crime reported than the national average; these lower-income communities are also 74% more likely to experience stress and negative health.  Across this country 40% of adolescent girls are not actively involved in sports.  For the ones who are, by the age of 14, they are twice as likely to drop out of sports as their male peers.

Mentorship, directed programming and targeted engagement can reverse these racial and gender-specific social disparities.  Shooting Touch Boston is leveling this playing field with their important work to create a healthier, more equitable community for these girls and their families. 

It is my hope to raise $1,500 to continue Shooting Touch's mission of using the game of basketball to empower these young women, while creating safe spaces for them to live, learn and play! 

For further transparency, here's how the funds would be used:
          - $10: One gift card to the fresh truck for fresh fruits and vegetables, which is usually handed out following practice
          - $25: Provide one basketball for a girl, which is especially important during COVID with not everyone having their own ball
          - $50: Provide an AAU uniform for one girl
          - $100: Sponsor one Health Enrichment lesson (e.g. mental health, nutrition, etc.)
          - $250: Sponsor a team to participate in an AAU tournament

Greetings from Rwanda!

We have been living in rural Rwanda for 8 months now, working every day alongside thousands of Shooting Touch kids and women, using the power of basketball to bring joy, friendships, and health to individuals and communities that need it most.

This is an exciting time for Shooting Touch. Participation at all of our courts has never been higher. More and more women and children are flooding to our courts to jump in on all the fun they’ve been hearing about in their village.  We are even expanding our program, building two new basketball courts in Rulindo and Bugesera! 

Across 7 courts, we provide sport 5 days a week, health education 3 days a week, various weekend programs 6 months of the year, 8 family community events, and 3 major health awareness tournaments. 

We are also testing for a number of life-threatening diseases every month, so our players are informed of their health status. That all means nothing if Shooting Touch families are living without health insurance. There’s still so much to be done — so many left uncovered. Thirteen-year-old point guards, mothers learning the game of basketball for the first time and toddlers trying to master the art of dribbling are missing weeks of our practices due to malaria, infection, water/food poisoning and more. The fastest way to get them back on the court is to send them, and anyone else in the Shooting Touch family, straight to the hospital without worry of the cost.


We are in the final two months of our fellowship. We’ve seen first-hand the way basketball can unite communities and cultivate life-long relationships in the Eastern Province of Rwanda. The members of Shooting Touch are not just our players anymore. They’re our family.


This is our final effort to raise money for the extraordinary people we interact with every day.

 
For only $20, you can sponsor a family of five with health insurance for an entire year. 
That means $4 can provide an individual with:
          - Disease preventative health care for 1 year
          - Screenings for diabetes, STD's and breast cancer
          - Medical Intervention
          - Health Education


Basketball has provided an outlet for our players’ talents, energy, hard work and love. Let’s not stop there.

 

Thank you and Turikumwe! (We are together)

-Nick, Liz, Mosie

As you may know, I'm off to Rwanda this October to start my fellowship with Shooting Touch , a non-profit out of Boston, Massachusetts!

The Shooting Touch Organization uses the power of basketball to educate and empower at-risk youth, women and their communities to live healthier lives.

Here are videos from Shooting Touch illustrating how basketball can be the medium for positively impacting entire communities:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=7&v=DWtPUHxvwII

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nz0GSth1zq8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hq4GsulGl54

Part of my process in joining the Shooting Touch family includes using this summer to fundraise for the wonderful work happening overseas.

Sixty-seven percent of the Rwandan population is under the age of 25. There are countless young men and women seeking guidance, knowledge and health care that may not be provided to them without our help.

For only $20, you can sponsor a family of five with health insurance for an entire year. 

That means $4 can provide an individual with:
          - Disease preventative health care for 1 year
          - Screenings for Diabetes, STD's and disease
          - Medical intervention
          - Health Education

Thanks to the Mutuelle De'Sante Health Care, over 2,000 Shooting Touch players and their families have received coverage for a year.

“Before Mutuelle, I would sit at home and think, ‘this could be my time to die’.”
— Habiyaremye Jean De Dieu, 15 years old.

If you would like to donate $200, that amount can be linked to supporting the employment of a local coach for half a year. Donating $500 can employ a local coach for a full year. 

These promoted Rwandan youth deliver Shooting Touch programming through clinics and workshops that certify them as basketball coaches and transform them into youth development practitioners.

If you would like to donate a large amount of shoes, basketballs, or jerseys, please contact me for further information!

Not only does any kind of donation help my fundraising goals, more importantly, taking action will continue to enlighten the Eastern Province of Rwanda with promises of hope and a healthier future.

Thank you!