Haitian Amputee Soccer Team Visits New York Area

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Oct 21, 2011, 09:21 ET

Brings message of hope, resilience, optimism and thanks

NEW YORK, Oct. 21, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The "Haitian Inspiration Tour," featuring a group of amputee soccer players from Haiti known as Team Zaryen, has comes to the New York City area, following several days in Washington, D.C., where the team held clinics for wounded American service members at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and at the facilities of Washington's professional soccer team, D.C. United.

Yesterday, Team Zaryen played an exhibition game against the Trinity High School boys soccer team in Stamford, Conn., and gave a demonstration of amputee soccer before the Major League Soccer game between the New York Red Bulls and the Philadelphia Union at Red Bull Arena in Newark, N.J. Amputee soccer, which is played on crutches, originated in the United States in 1980 and has spread to dozens of countries, even to the World Cup level. Team Zaryen provided a similar demonstration at the MLS game between D.C. United and the Portland Timbers Wednesday at RFK Stadium in Washington.

Today, Team Zaryen will conduct a practice session at Astoria Sports Complex (34-38 38th Street, Long Island City, N.Y.) from 12-1 p.m.

When a major 7.0 earthquake struck Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in January 2010, the country's meager health care system was immediately overwhelmed. Help came quickly from the United States, in the form of a U.S. Navy hospital ship, USNS Comfort, and a huge tent hospital. Immediately adjoining the Port-au-Prince airport, the hospital was set up by Project Medishare for Haiti, a charitable medical organization established by doctors at the University of Miami's Miller School of Medicine in the 1990s.

In the months that followed, Project Medishare worked with a group of young men who lost limbs in the earthquake establish an amputee soccer team named Team Zaryen. The team is co-sponsored by Project Medishare and the Knights of Columbus. The Knights donated $1 million for the construction of a prosthetics laboratory and amputee rehabilitation program at Project Medishare's Hospital Bernard Mevs in Port-au-Prince.

The Knights-funded Healing Haiti's Children program has also made prosthetic limbs and therapy available to every child who lost a limb in the earthquake. To date, hundreds of children have received prosthetics and therapy through the K of C-Medishare program. The Knights is the world's largest Catholic fraternal organization and one of the most active charities in the United States. Last year Knights donated nearly $155 million and 70 million hours to charitable causes.

A special web site has been created for the Tour (www.haitianinspirationtour.org), as well as a special Facebook page for the Healing Haiti's Children program (https://www.facebook.com/pages/Healing-Haitis-Children/110782362364272).

SOURCE Knights of Columbus