This Saturday night, March 19th at 7 PM, the new Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas will host the largest women’s lacrosse event ever held. “Dallax 2011,” hosted by WomensLax.com, will feature the first lacrosse game ever played in the arena, between the #2 ranked Northwestern and the #16 ranked William and Mary.
It’s a big deal for Texas, where lacrosse has staked a claim as one of the state’s fastest growing sports. But it’s an even bigger deal for a Baltimore-based charitable organization called the South African Lacrosse Project.
The South African Lacrosse Project was started by Kip and Harrison Hart, with the assistance of their mother Barbara, to help support kids in South Africa who have lost their parents to AIDS. The disease is a monumental problem in South Africa, where the already meager resources are strained past the breaking point due to the devastation that AIDS has wrought.
The Hart (rhymes with “heart”) family makes the 22-hour trip to South Africa at least once a year. They use the funds they raise stateside to purchase lacrosse equipment, deliver it to the children they’ve “adopted” there, engage them in learning the game, and by the way, offer sustenance, scholarships and health education to hundreds of kids who appreciate the fact that someone cares.
Over the last few years, the South African Lacrosse Project has grown by leaps and bounds, as lacrosse fans with a heart in the United States realize the power of their ability to change the world, one child at a time.
The new video the organization has put together will premiere at Dallax 2011 tomorrow. (Full disclosure – this writer had a hand in producing it.) You can catch a sneak preview at the link above.
While it wasn’t specifically produced to make viewers cry, it seems to be having that effect on the hundreds who have previewed it already. After you’ve seen it, I hope you’ll take a moment to consider how you might want to get involved.
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