As some of you may already know from reading my blog, one of the projects I've been working on in Moldova is leading a few teams of high school basketball players in my village. In March and April, they'll be playing a five-week season against other teams in their part of the country, and they might go on to the championship in Chisinau. It's an important project because kids here don't have a chance to play organized sports like we do in America, so they miss an opportunity to learn.

In order for us to play our season, though, we need your help. Through the Peace Corps Partnership Program, we have written a grant for the league through which you can help finance the league's transportation cost. The total project costs over $9,000, so we need all the help we can get. Your tax-deductible donation will pay for the transportation costs for over 30 teams; Moldovans have paid for every other necessity, including equipment costs, referee salaries, gym usage and other expenses, by themselves. Moldovans have already contributed over $3,000 to the project, and we hope that you can help them, and specifically my team, by contributing anything you have today by clicking on the link below:

http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell\u003dresources.donors.projdetail&projdesc\u003d261-151&region\u003deurope

You can also call the Peace Corps' Washington office and donate at(800) 424-8580 ext 2170. Tell them that you want to donate to the Moldovan National Basketball League, project 261-151.

I never have been very good at asking for money, but this is such a great reason to do so. Thank you in advance for helping me, my team of kids and the basketballin' country of Moldova.