Advancing education and opportunity through Rugby

We are delighted that some of the Memphis Inner City Rugby students have won important CAL summer scholarships, thanks to Atlas’s friends at the Rugby Opportunity Fund. 

Elsewhere our work continues to improve education and create career pathways thanks to the rugby family. Our project ‘graduates’ are now breaking out of the cycle of poverty to go to College, University and many of them into paid work in the fitness or security industries. 

The England Rugby Squad and British High Commissioner visited our projects in Cape Town in advance of the recent England vs South Africa final test. This visit not only created valuable publicity but inspired new supporters to start fundraising for Atlas.

In March we were delighted that Shane Young from the Memphis Inner City Rugby (MICR) project was able to join guests of the Atlas Foundation at our second US golf day in Las Vegas. This was sponsored by the magnificent CallidusCloud, and held in partnership with USA Rugby Sevens.

The overall theme was undoubtedly "winning":

• The USA Sevens team romped to victory for the first time on home turf, in front of an ecstatic crowd

• The MICR project fielded more kids than ever before, and yet more have risen up the academic and sporting ranks thanks to the work of the rugby coaches there in Memphis

• The golfers made over $22,000 in donations on the day, which added to event income saw Atlas raise over $33,000. 

The work we support in Memphis, and in other deeply divided and disadvantaged communities across the world, raises kids out of the lives set for them at birth, breaks the cycles of poverty, and sets them up for a new life. The circumstances differ massively between downtown Memphis, the settlements of Israel, and the favelas of South America, but the unity and hope that rugby brings is universal.

Thank you again to all supporters of our work

Our very best wishes

Jason