Del Piero Wakes Girl from Coma

Posted on February 14, 2012 by Delinda

Juventus captain and former Italy forward Alessandro Del Piero is being credited with waking a young Italian girl from a coma after hearing a message from her soccer hero.

Apparently, Giada Scalise suffered a brain hemorrhage on January 22 while watching a Juventus game on TV…she lapsed into a coma, and after several weeks her parents reached out to Del Piero’s help via a charity.

ANSA.IT reports: The parents of Giada, a big Juventus supporter from the small southern town of Cerenzia, believe the footballer made an important contribution to the happy outcome. “That night (after listening to the message) something special happened,” said the girl’s father, Francesco. “First she moved her hand and then after a few hours she called out ‘mamma’. Then after about 24 hours she talked and asked for an ice-cream”. Continue reading →

Humanitarian Creates Dream Team: An Interview

Posted on January 25, 2012 by Delinda

“They are a population that has lost everything, and even hope is starting to fade. Darfur United gives them a sense of being part of something greater than being what they are now labeled: a refugee.” ~i-ACT Founder/Director Gabriel Stauring

Since 2005, the Founder and Director of i-ACT, Gabriel Stauring has visited Darfur 11 times, namely-the refugee camps along the Chad/Sudan border. The non-profit’s volunteer arm, Stop Genocide Now, has garnered international attention and now, i-ACT is essentially creating a soccer team made up of the best players from the refugee camps along the border.

The team is called Darfur United.

In addition to his numerous visits to Darfur, Stauring has spearheaded campaigns such as the 100-Day Fast for Darfur, Darfur Freedom Summer Vigils, Camp Darfur, Darfur Fast for Life, and is featured in ‘The Enough Moment’ by John Prendergast and Don Cheadle.

Athlebrities was thrilled to interview this amazing man about issues related to Darfur, the refugees in that area, how the beautiful game can change lives, and what we can do to help. I opted to run the interview, unedited, in its entirety because, quite frankly, every word is important. Continue reading →

Marta Visits Sierra Leone to Empower Women

Posted on September 5, 2011 by Delinda

Marta Visits Sierra Leone to Empower Women

Her real name is Marta Vieira da Silva- you know, the Brazilian soccer star better known as Marta, the world’s top female player currently using her celebrity status to help empower women in Sierra Leone in her role as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Development Programme? Yea, that Marta.

“We all need to contribute to help defeat poverty,” said Marta, five-time winner of the FIFA Women’s Player of the Year title. “UNDP works around the world making a positive difference in people’s lives, and I am proud to add my personal commitment to its work.”

Marta was appointment as a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador last year and has just taken her first trip to Africa where she visited Sierra Leone to promote local efforts that empower women, one of the eight internationally-agreed Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which seek to end extreme poverty by 2015.

Marta was appointed a UNDP Goodwill Ambassador in October 2010 to promote the MDGs, with a special emphasis on the gender dimension of poverty. She is part of an elite group of UNDP Goodwill Ambassadors, which includes soccer stars Ronaldo, Zinedine Zidane, Iker Casillas and Didier Drogba, Japanese actress Misako Konno, Crown Prince Haakon Magnus of Norway, Russian tennis star Maria Sharapova and Spanish actor Antonio Banderas.

The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) were established at the UN Millennium Summit in September 2000. The eight MDGs aim to eradicate or reduce poverty, hunger, child mortality and disease, and to promote education, maternal health, gender equality, environmental sustainability and global partnerships. The target date for achieving the MDGs is 2015. Sport has been recognized as a viable and practical tool to assist in the achievement of the MDGs. While sport does not have the capacity to tackle solely the MDGs, it can be very effective when part of a broad, holistic approach to addressing the MDGs.

Sport and Peace…it’s a beautiful thing.

As always, thanks for reading~

delinda@athlebrities.com