GAISF Sporting Goods to Go Project

As you recall during the GAISF SportAccord Conference in Madrid, a presentation was made on GAISF's "Sporting Goods To Go" project mentioning some details and plans for moving this project into an active and productive state. Since that time, a meeting was held in New York City on July 15th, that brought together a large number of partners representing organizations that had indicated an interest in participating in this project including the IOC, the National Olympic Committees, the United Nations and a number of international humanitarian agencies and organizations.

The meeting in New York brought forth ideas and ways the SGTG project should operate and be administered, during these discussions it was also agreed to form a Council so the project could be more effectively administered. It was agreed that GAISF and the Sporting Goods Manufacturers Association-International (SGMA) would co-chair the Council, represented by GAISF's Secretary-General, Don Porter and SGMA's VP of Global Business Development, Maria Stefan.

The Council would be represented by designees from the IOC, the NOCs, and the humanitarian/charity organizations. They are listed along with the representatives including International Federations that attended the meeting in NYC, as an addendum to this Memo.

Since the NYC meeting, a later meeting was held in Washington, D.C. to sort out the administrative operation and organizational responsibilities.  The worldwide humanitarian organization, Gifts in Kind, agreed to provide administrative support as well as set up a SGTG website at their world headquarters in Alexandria, Virginia, USA.  The site will be www.sportinggoodstogo.org.  

Of course the main function of this project is find, develop and activate ways to secure, ship and deliver sporting equipment to countries in need that otherwise could not afford either by value of the equipment, shipping costs or customs fees, etc. which in turn would help further and future development of sport in many countries.

We hope to shortly plan in the least complicated and time consuming way how the project will function in order to carry out the original mission, getting sport equipment to those that need it most, young boys and girls who are eager to learn and play sport but do not have or can acquire the equipment for the reasons mentioned above.

Your cooperation and support is very important in making this project successful.  Accordingly, as a first step, please e-mail Sharon Lincoln at slsgma@aol.com, the name and contact information of the development officer in your federation that we can access to arrange for shipment and donations of product.  Contact information should include name, title, address, phone, fax and e-mail. This federation contact will be listed on the Sporting Goods To Go website. 

The SGMA International “Super Show”, one of the largest sporting goods shows in the world, will be held in Orlando, Florida USA, January 12-14, 2004.  In conjunction with GAISF the SGMA is inviting all International Federations to attend the show to hear more about the Sporting Goods To Go project as well as meet many of the top leaders and CEOs of the sporting goods industry.

The SGMA/GAISF will hold a special reception at the opening of the Show on January 12, 2004, at 5:00PM (1700) that will include many of the SGTG partners including the IOC, GAISF, ANOC, humanitarian/charity organizations and government agencies including the entities of the United Nations.

A special invitation with all the details will be sent out later to all GAISF members.