August 6: Community Paddles Blazing with Love

 Events
Jul 092022
 
Graphic art of ping pong paddle and flames (blazing paddle)

You’re invited to Plymouth Congregational Church’s Community Ping Pong Festival Benefit for Afghan Refugee Families and Children of Helena.

  • When: Saturday, August 6th any time between 9am and 1pm
  • Where: Downstairs Fellowship Hall at Plymouth Congregational Church, corner of Winne and Oakes in Helena.

Come and bring your friends and family to this fun event, a project of Plymouth’s Outreach and Social Justice Committee in collaboration with co-sponsor Hands On Global’s Afghan Refugee Resettlement Team (HARRT) and many other community partners.

Ping pong players of all ages and playing levels will come together for free fun playing or watching ping pong,the second most popular sport in the world, next to soccer, while giving the Helena community a chance to have fun together and also donate funds to help meet pressing needs of Afghan refugee families and children in the Helena area.

This Festival is an opportunity to:

  • Meet and warmly welcome Afghan refugee families and their children
  • Share snacks/meals prepared and sold by local Afghan refugee families
  • Contribute funds to help our new Afghan refugee friends meet their needs and get adjusted
  • Watch, cheer on and play ping pong for free with some local “celebrity ping pong all-stars” playing for fun with all of us, (and stick around after 1pm if you’d like to watch or play in the Helena Table Tennis Club’s 11th Annual Forrest Gump Table Tennis Tournament)
  • Enjoy music from local musicians playing, singing, and leading some fun and uplifting sing-alongs
  • Try our hand at playing some creative, tricky ping pong gimmick games dreamt up by local ping pong players.

Already confirmed co-sponsors besides Plymouth Congregational Church and Hands on Global’s Helena Afghan Refugee Resettlement Team are:

  • Good Samaritan Ministries
  • The Helena Table Tennis Club (lending us three excellent ping pong tables and inviting table tennis players from all across Montana)
  • Montana Book Company
  • The Shop University (which is doing ESL language lessons for refugees)
  • Buzz Boutique
  • GoodFood World
  • Helena Progressive Action Network
  • Helena DSA and its Helena Solidarity Network
  • Helena Service for Peace and Justice

Several other very likely sponsors are pending, and we are now inviting more Helena groups — churches, clubs, businesses and other groups and organizations.

Seeking Asylum: Hands On Global Event

 Events
Oct 052019
 

On Tuesday, October 8, Hands On Global will present an evening at the Myrna Loy in Helena to educate attendees about the current refugee crisis (https://www.facebook.com/events/410862862898516/).

Seeking Asylum: Hands On Global at the Myrna Loy, Tuesday, October 8, 2019, 7pm. Text of graphic follows below.

The goal of this presentation is to have the audience experience a few moments in the life of a person seeking asylum. The evening will be a bit of theater, music, film and presentations.

The Hands On Global team will tell stories of the refugees they met and served and how the generosity of those Helenans who donated impact the life of a refugee.

Our Helena Village has saved lives, and this presentation will focus on what that impact is. This is based on the EU crisis that continues despite media silence.

There will be a 12 minute film featuring Omar Alkashal ( founder of Refugee4Refugees) and Hands On Global’s collaboration. Music by Wilbur Rehmann and Judy Fjell.

Speakers include Dr Georgia Milan (2013 recipient of Champion of Change by President Obama), Karen Cooper, Valerie Hellermann, Tama Adelman and Scott Craigle, all who participated in the refugee work.

“SOS” an art exhibition by Judy Paton and Valerie Hellermann will be in the lobby.

The evening is by donation. Funds raised will be used for medicines, medical supplies, medical treatment and renting a van for the mobile clinic. The Hands On Global team will be on the ground in Greece Refugee Camps October 23-November 20.

Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. and at 7:00 p.m.

This event is sponsored by Plymouth Congregational Church, Big Sky Unitarian Universalists, Real Food Market and Deli, and RAFA.