“One thousand voices are louder than one, and many hands working together can accomplish so much more than just one pair.” – Hope Sullivan Masters
The Leon. H. Sullivan Foundation recognizes this as an empowerment strategy, and through the GOTTA MISSION – the latest in a series of groundbreaking Sullivan self-help initiatives – endeavors to leverage the incomprehensible power of teamwork, cooperation, and energy will focus on positive change.
GOTTA MISSION promotes teamwork and a sense of community trust and reliance on others among children in sub-Saharan Africa through team sports and recreation. By creating opportunities for children to excel within a team paradigm, we will promote personal responsibility, discipline, trust, and reliance on others – the powerful components of a winning team. Ultimately, our mission is to instill confidence at a young age while providing a safe and constructive outlet.
Childhood on the Continent if often no childhood at all.
Less than one third of the children in Africa have schools to attend, and of that small percentage with the opportunity for education, less than one half are able to attend beyond primary school. Millions of children are orphaned by war, disease, or forced relocation of their mothers, fathers, or both in order to
find employment and earn a living. The future of Africa depends on her sons and daughters; their success, indeed, our success as a globalized society, depends in large part on leaders who can compromise when necessary, take the lead when necessary, and stand down when necessary. In short, well-adjusted adults are team players.
We believe that the semblance of a childhood can be created through recreational play and through reinforcing positive interactions with others. Our goal is to encourage individual responsibility and the benefits of cooperation through structured team sports.
We present you with an opportunity to give a child happy memories and a hopeful future. Without the necessary equipment, the next Dikembe Mutombo or Freddy Adu will never have the chance to explore their tremendous gift and talent. We aim to provide that equipment and give these children that opportunity.
Our focus is not to build world-class athletes, our hope is that we can enhance the life of a child and give then the opportunity to learn to share laughter, teamwork, victory, and defeat among their peers. Afterall, why are these children, so much like your own children, denied the joy of the mundane, and the exhilaration of the ordinary?
We present you with the opportunity to give a child the chance to emulate their heroes – the role models who occupy the rarified air of a myth.
We present you with the opportunity to give a child the chance to escape the debilitating cycle of poverty and hopelessness.
We present you with the opportunity to give a child a childhood – laughter and all.
