2022 PeacePlayers Impact Report FINAL - Flipbook - Page 33
THE SERENDIPITOUS BEGINNINGS OF
PEACEPLAYERS MIDDLE EAST
“We were encouraged by our Board Chair Ron Shapiro to pursue an opportunity to start working in
Israel. Ron’s leadership and inspiration provided us with the means to do it. My brother Sean along
with Founding Director Matt Minoff launched PeacePlayers Middle East with an overnight camp
in July 2005. It was really tough, but by the end of the week, you had kids playing on mixed teams,
rooting for each other. And the last, the champion game — I still remember the scene and the kid’s
name — Ido, hits a three at the buzzer to win, and everyone storms the court, and you see Israeli
and Palestinian kids celebrating together.
Matt, Sean and I had some great conversations with the coaches that worked at the camp that gave us
the confidence that, hey we can do this here, but also the awareness of how hard it would be.”
BRENDAN TUOHEY
President and Co-Founder of PeacePlayers
FIND THE FULL ORIGIN STORY AT PEACEPLAYERS.ORG/MIDDLE-EAST
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