Play Around the World 2015
Welcome to Mary Ann Rintoul's Personal Fundraising Page!


We are incredibly grateful for your support in kicking off our USEED campaign, $10,000 in 8 days! We have recently increased our goal to $20,000. The additional $10,000 will go directly towards sending 14 students and 4 leaders to Cambodia, Thailand, and Northern Canada for their 3 month service learning placement. Additionally, the funds will go to the 18 agencies in these locations around the world to protect, provide and promote the Child's Right to Play (UN Convention on the Rights of the Child Article 31) through the team's direct volunteer service, playdays, equipment, translated resources, and so on. Our grateful partners include schools, orphanages, community organizations and government agencies where students deliver play, recreation, physical activity and sport to children and youth.
People of all ages and across all cultures experience play. It is an important activity that children do, to learn about their world. Play is recognized as a human right and is essential for a child's optimal growth and development. Pure play awakens the joyful, creative spirit in us all.
Play Around the World (PAW) is a service learning course offered by the Faculty of Physical Education and Recreation. Students from a variety of disciplines volunteer approximately 35 hours per week for 12 weeks where they gain valuable life skills, and broaden their worldview as they live, learn and work in a culture different from their own. Funds raised will enable students to participate and will directly benefit the agencies PAW serves. Thank you for visiting this campaign site and for your interest in Play Around the World.
"Before Cambodia I had often wondered how an average person could change the world. I don’t think that is possible. But a person can impact another human being, or a community, and to positively affect one, is enough." Anthony Bourque (Team Cambodia 2014)

Photo Gallery
Intercultural Effectiveness is a mouthful. And maybe the words seem a bit intimidating, they definitely were to me. However, the gist of the term can be defined as how well an individual is at interacting with people from a different culture than their own. There is something called an IES (intercultural effectiveness scale) scale which measures your intercultural effectiveness score and it has several different components to it. The entire PAW team took this IES survey.The survey analyzes the following elements:
Continuous learning - which refers to how interested we are to learn and be curious about different cultures with a focus on two dimensions (self-awareness and exploration).
Interpersonal engagement - the desire to understand and create relationships with people from different cultures with a focus on two dimensions (global mindset and relationship interest).
Hardiness - which refers to managing emotions, suspending judgment and the ability to learn from setbacks with a focus on two dimensions (positive regard and emotional resilience).
These three things compile together to create intercultural effectiveness.
At a recent meeting, we had a guest speaker named Leslie Weigel do a workshop with us about this specific topic. It was really interesting to discuss certain things and something that stood out most to me was stress levels. We talked about how simple tasks like eating breakfast or ordering food at a restaurant can cause us more stress when we are in a different culture. We also did some play (of course) that involved one group of students to create a culture while a couple students would leave the room. When they students came back into the room they would to try to figure out the culture and try to interact with the group. It really highlighted some emotions that can arise from situations like this as well as some common reactions that could occur when individuals are placed in a foreign culture. Something I also found really interesting about the IES scale is that when you do the survey it doesn't just give you your results and that’s it. It gives you about a 24 page booklet and discusses your scores in each area and then ways that you can improve your score. Leslie spoke about this a bit and told us that how we would go about improving areas of our intercultural effectiveness is to choose one small thing to do every day. Some examples Leslie gave were to smile at one stranger every day or in stressful situations to pause and take a deep breath. The intention is that from that one small change, after a while we will notice small changes in our lives and hopefully see improvement in that particular area of our intercultural effectiveness.
I would say that the PAW 2015 team is definitely a resilient group and I think I can speak for everyone when I say that we are all very excited to learn about the new cultures that we will be immersed in. I think it is important to remember that although we are all different and will react to new cultures in separate ways, it’s important to know that we will always have our team to rely on to have our back. Up until we leave and throughout our placement we will continue to discover this topic as well as learn about each other.
The Student Team is busy preparing for their next Playday on Family Day, February 16th, 2015 in Churchill Square from 12:00-4:00 pm. We will be facilitating games and activities to enliven the square; we hope you are able to join us for this free public event.
We will continue to post updates and encourage you to follow us on twitter @PAW_UAlberta or like our facebook page www.facebook.com/UofAplayaroundtheworld for more information on the student team, events and other news!


Play Around the World was pleased to be a part of the recent Green & Glow Winterfest on the University of Alberta campus, January 30 & 31st. The 2015 student team along with PAW alumni facilitated play activities for kids and families. It was a wonderful weekend of lights, snow and smiles. Students created a magical forest obstacle course for the kids to explore! There was snow painting, snowshoe races, tug of war and more. It was a wonderful way to celebrate alumni and engage their families. As well, the event served as an opportunity for the students to gain more hands-on experience leading a playday and practicing their play leadership skills.

The team is continuing with their preparation and are already planning their next playday for Family Day! We hope you will come out to play Monday, February 16th, Churchill Square, Edmonton, from 12:00-4:00 pm.
Each year the Play Around the World program costs upwards of $60,000. With support from fundraising initiatives such as USEED, students from diverse backgrounds can pursue their service learning journey and serve in their country location for 3 months. As well, we are able to purchase equipment that the students bring with them and leave with our partner organizations overseas or in Northern Canada. We are also able to provide local play day opportunities here in Edmonton. Additionally, funds are used for translation services and for final projects that will benefit the program and the agencies we serve. Examples of past student projects include: play presentation to a Thai university, translated games and leadership handbook, sensory rooms/stations for children at schools and a play resource for an Orphanage.
We hope that you will follow the journey as we continue to update you our experiences and service in Edmonton, Alberta, in preparation for our play leadership around the world. Thank you for all your support to date. Please keep the momentum going by sharing within your networks and help us get closer to reaching our new goal of $20,000.

The past few weeks have marked the beginning of the learning journey for 14 U of A students and their 4 leaders. We have been involved together with team building activities, play samplers, discussion about our own perceptions and the concept of 'curiosity before judgement'. As we prepare to facilitate play and recreation in various cultures, different than our own, the process of journalling as a self-reflective tool is helpful in examining our own assumptions.
The team is providing a Playday Station at the U of A Alumni Winterfest at the end of January and the creative ideas are coming together for some fantastic snow building, mazes, and more! This event is open to the public, Alumni and families and will be a wonderful celebration of light, fire and snow!
http://http//alumni.ualberta.ca/events/centennial/winterfest
Heather Crowe

Mary Ann Rintoul

Ben Contenti
Paul Woloschuk

Kate Boyd

Kendal Collier

Frances Sobierajski

Noah Schwabe
Courtney Milford

Jane Erdmann
Amy Dobrowolski
Chelsea Greenbank

Anna Knight
Valerie Benoit

Morgan Mckinney
Erica Van Kuppeveld
Britt Voaklander

Nicole Farmer

Shayna Wood

Deshane Deenoo
Renee Wagner
Gave $50.00
Mira Jindani
Gave $25.00
Kayla Comstock
Gave $25.00
Danielle Leclerc
Gave $25.00
Nichol Crooks
Gave $50.00
Lee Ann Mucha
Gave $50.00
Darcy MacNaughton (& Dave Rush)
Gave $100.00
Rhonda Wilson
Gave $50.00
BRENDA QUINLAN
Gave $50.00
Kassi Boyd
Gave $40.00
Shari Melnychuk
Gave $25.00
Jack Comeau
Gave $200.00
Madison Ogg
Gave $25.00
Liette Lavigne
Gave $100.00
Heather Ashby
Gave $250.00
Gave $500.00
Gave $100.00
Maria Landry
Gave $50.00
Becky L'Heureux
Gave $25.00
Sandra Mackniak
Gave $100.00
Soja Ghalehdar
Gave $20.00
Pardeep Dhaliwal
Gave $40.00
William Strean
Gave $50.00
Betty Grever
Gave $500.00
John Lukenchuk
Gave $100.00
Coralee Brass
Gave $25.00
Gave $200.00
Gave $25.00
Gave $20.00
Gave $5.00
Gave $40.00
Barbara Purkiss
Gave $50.00
Martin Collier
Gave $100.00
Raylene Yuzyk
Gave $100.00
Colten Chase
Gave $260.00
Rillah Carson
Gave $100.00
cassandra Milford
Gave $100.00
Corinne Spitzer
Gave $200.00
Jane Vallentyne
Gave $100.00
Renee Chyz-Viau
Gave $55.00
Evelyn Roethlingshoefer
Gave $50.00
Erin L'Heureux
Gave $100.00
Nolan Spitzer
Gave $180.00
Elise Usunier
Gave $25.00
Dave Patton
Gave $100.00
Robert Gill
Gave $50.00
Mike and Darcia Hansen
Gave $50.00
Cheryl Kasianiuk
Gave $200.00
Hailey Gillrie
Gave $15.00
Spencer Balay
Gave $25.00
Adam Haydey
Gave $200.00
Jena Hnidy
Gave $25.00
Ashlyn Paul
Gave $25.00
Lisa Boechler
Gave $20.00
Brent Cameron
Gave $10.00
Sue-Anne Thiessen
Gave $25.00
joel johnston
Gave $100.00
Lori Meyer
Gave $100.00
Ziomara Anstey
Gave $100.00
Roland Greenbank
Gave $250.00
Eliezer Chin
Gave $25.00
Gave $20.00
Jane Lanskail-Stefure
Gave $100.00
Kendall Schultz
Gave $15.00
Beth Patton Collier
Gave $25.00
Rebecca Schechtel
Gave $50.00
Lothar Schwabe
Gave $100.00
VICTOR & ANN BUSTARD
Gave $100.00
Alexis MacMillan
Gave $100.00
Rebecca MacLeod
Gave $25.00
DWAYNE EDWARDS
Gave $100.00
Kathryn Quinlan
Gave $25.00
Gail Haydey
Gave $100.00
Bob Seel
Gave $35.00
Leigh Goldie
Gave $100.00
Gave $1,000.00
Gave $100.00
Gave $200.00
Ruth Greenbank
Gave $100.00
robert vretenar
Gave $50.00
Philip Enns
Gave $100.00
Louise Jubinville
Gave $50.00
Erik and Lorna Lindberg
Gave $100.00
Norman Toreson
Gave $404.00
Sarah McCrae
Gave $100.00
Lorelei Kozsan
Gave $50.00
Don Voaklander
Gave $100.00
Gwen Erdmann
Gave $50.00
Barb Nemeth
Gave $100.00
Inland Value Corp - Larry Milford Milford
Gave $150.00
Debbie England
Gave $50.00
Shelley Becker
Gave $100.00
Gail Gill-Elliott
Gave $50.00
Iryna Laschuk
Gave $50.00
Baljinder Bajwa
Gave $100.00
Daryl Matter
Gave $50.00
Luc Benoit
Gave $300.00
Leonard Anstey
Gave $5.00
Greg Dobrowolski
Gave $50.00
Courtney Milford
Gave $25.00
Gerald Hebert
Gave $100.00
Brenda Engele
Gave $50.00
Stephanie Benoit
Gave $50.00
Bonnie Andrais
Gave $50.00
Linda Campbell
Gave $25.00
Mary Manley
Gave $50.00
Padmini Jandhyala
Gave $100.00
Karen Kelly
Gave $100.00
Tania Dumanovsky
Gave $100.00
Renee Campbell
Gave $100.00
Jackie Caldwell
Gave $25.00
nick hale
Gave $71.00
Lori Blake
Gave $50.00
Jeanette Runions
Gave $25.00
Nadine Marien
Gave $100.00
Sharon Breitkreuz
Gave $100.00
Taylor Greenbank
Gave $50.00
Rick and Char Knight
Gave $100.00
Russel Sluchinski
Gave $100.00
Garnet Clark
Gave $500.00
Wendy Baker
Gave $25.00
Shauna Stevens
Gave $100.00
Bryce Southworth
Gave $50.00
Liette Lavigne
Gave $100.00
Paulette Hale
Gave $100.00
Carmen Lanteigne
Gave $100.00
Anthie Michailides
Gave $15.00
RAMESSUR DEENOO
Gave $500.00
Tamya Chowdhury
Gave $25.00
Deborah Lentz
Gave $25.00
Jean Hergert
Gave $40.00
Dallas Ansell
Gave $50.00
Cameron Weeks
Gave $15.00
Carolynne Melnyk
Gave $50.00
Anita Nawrocki
Gave $100.00
Brent Moldrup
Gave $25.00
Tracy Salmon
Gave $25.00
Wayne Milford
Gave $500.00
Brian Rowe
Gave $100.00
Vanore Voaklander
Gave $50.00
Shane Riczu
Gave $100.00
Tyson Lazaruk
Gave $25.00
Erika Voaklander
Gave $100.00
Alyx Dahrk
Gave $50.00
Eric Upton
Gave $50.00
Susan Mallandaine
Gave $25.00
Jayson Vavrek
Gave $25.00
Linda Hut
Gave $50.00
Derrick Slater
Gave $100.00
Lynne Sheridan
Gave $50.00
Tim Muench
Gave $25.00
Randall Clay
Gave $100.00
Thomas Dobrowolski
Gave $1,000.00
Jim Greenbank
Gave $100.00
Jaime Little
Gave $25.00
Kerry Mummery
Gave $100.00
Donna Goodwin
Gave $100.00
Wendy Doughty
Gave $100.00
Keith & Cassie Williams
Gave $250.00
BLAIR AND ETHEL BUSTARD
Gave $500.00
Emma McKinney
Gave $50.00
Erin Holman
Gave $25.00
Sheila Graham
Gave $25.00
Heather Crowe
Gave $25.00
Matthew Racz
Gave $5.00
38 supporters have chosen not to be listed for "Play Around the World 2015".
Make an Impact
Play Equipment
Give $5
Skipping Ropes, Chalk, Pool Noodles, Balls etc *All equipment will be left with PAW partners in Asia and Northern Canada.
Transportation
Give $15
A tuk tuk or song teow ride to agency site.
Play Day Station
Give $25
Help us buy all the materials needed to successfully run one station at a playday! Station examples include: Boxes, Blocks and Building, Science Zone, Water Play and Active Games
Language Lesson
Give $50
One Team Language Lesson (teams receive one lesson per week).
Translation Services or a Field Trip for Kids
Give $100
Translated resources to leave with partner agencies overseas or a field trip/outing for the children and youth in SE Asia or NWT.
Parachute
Give $250
Help provide a brightly coloured, lightweight nylon Parachute! When children work together to make the parachute billow, they also refine perceptual motor skills and develop a sense of rhythm. Parachute games foster cooperative skills.
Flight
Give $500
Contribute to the cost of sending one student to their destination.