The initiative aims to raise funds to finance the Edmílson Foundation's projects in the Brazilian town of Taquaritinga
The FC Barcelona Foundation has agreed to collaborate with the HappyBall project, a new initiative launched by the Edmílson Foundation this Wednesday. The project aims to secure the futures of the 500 families that are currently part of the assistance program run by the Edmílson Foundation in the Brazilian town of Taguaritinga.
What is HappyBall?
The HappyBall project seeks to raise funds for the Edmílson Foundation's social projects through the sale of footballs which can be found at official FC Barcelona points of sale and on www.happyball.org. The price of each leather ball is 25 euros.
The FC Barcelona Foundation is an official collaborator
“Our objective with the FC Barcelona Foundation is to help children improve their future. I encourage anyone with a sense of social responsibility to collaborate with HappyBall so that more children can be helped around the world,” said FC Barcelona President Sandro Rosell.
For José Edmílson, founder and president of the Edmílson Foundation, HappyBall is a very desirable initiative. “I had a dream one day, that a ball can change a life. Today a project is launched which is much larger than a football, more than a smile. HappyBall is education, sport and culture,” said the former Barça player.
The Edmílson Foundation, sowing dreams
The Edmílson Foundation was created in 2006 by the player José Edmílson Gomes de Maraes. Since then, the Foundation has worked toward a very clear goal: to help the children in need of Taquaritinga by offering them resources and education so that they can have access to a profession and thus avoid a life of prostitution, drugs or gangs.
The Edmílson Foundation currently attends to 300 children (ages 4 through 14) by offering academic help in music, theater, dance, information technology and sports. The Foundation also works with more than 100 teenagers in a work education program, and with more than 120 adults in a social integration and formation program. In addition, the Foundation doesn’t just help the children, but it also helps the parents of the children with social programs and psychological help.
The FC Barcelona Foundation has collaborated with the Edmílson Foundation on the football pitch since 2006. The methodology, the professionalism and the results obtained so far are reasons enough to continue supporting the Edmílson Foundation and its new HappyBall initiative.