‘It’s not just a ball, it’s a dream’

When Sydney Kahn approached Adriana, the lovely lady who was helping us with our transport every day at the Hilton, and asked her where we could leave our football equipment behind, he would never have guessed the door he was about to open.

Adriana’s husband works with underprivileged children each weekend in Fevolas – slums in Brazil – where equipment is non existent and dreams are built on ‘balls’ made out of plastic bags stuffed with layers.

Now, those kids will have balls, cones, medical equipment, jerseys – manna from heaven for kids in Brazil who eat, drink, breath and dream of football – thanks to the generosity of our football and medical teams.

Our football equipment in Brazil was donated through the generosity of the Reagan Milstein Foundation in Melbourne, an organisation with a strong relationship with Maccabi. The Foundation was set up to honour the life of Reagan, who tragically died in 2010 after an accident while scuba diving in Malaysia.

His parents Tamara and Kevin have started the foundation in his memory, and now, they are continuing to make a difference through Reagan’s legacy. Their motto – “achieving equality and opportunity through football” – will be alive and well in Sao Paulo.

The presentation of equipment was the last time Team Australia was together and there couldn’t have been a more touching finish to the Games.

Jodi Dribbin, one of our trainee physiotherapists, and a relative of the Milstein family, proudly presented the equipment to Adriana.

“This is not just a ball,” Adriana told us, with a few misty eyes in the audience.

“This is a dream.”

She explained that kids will now have the opportunity, thanks to the donation, to enjoy and experience their dreams.

Perhaps one day, thanks to this gesture, Maccabi Australia’s football legacy in Brazil will create a future star.

And even if it doesn’t, you can only imagine the smiles it will put on these kids’ faces.

More information: www.reaganmilsteinfoundation.com