What's new?

So, you may have thought I had fallen off the face of the earth. Or you followed along on my adventures when I was traveling, whether through Twitter, or Facebook.

I have been back home now for just under a month, and after getting used to life in the great city of New York (and the tiring suburbs of Long Island), I am happy to confirm that things are progressing.

As I promised on the video from Sarah Elizabeth Foster (located on the bottom portion of this site), I planned on filing for non-profit status upon return of a successful trip. Well, the trip was successful, so now I am reviewing the legal aspects, and filling out the paper work, and then handling the matters that will not only officially establish this initiative as a not-for-profit charity, but will also allow prior donors to claim their donations as tax exempt.

I want to thank those people here, and in due time, personally, for donating to an idea before it had matriculated, but now it is blooming, because of the support of some very generous and giving people, that donated amounts ranging from $2 to $500.

Now it's time to really blow this program open.

In a few weeks you will receive more messages from me, first on here, and eventually, on the new website that I am also constructing at this moment. I will discuss with you the plans of the organization, and once again share with you the experiences in India.

As we all know, hockey is a year round sport in North America, but every year, it is an expensive endeavor to get off the ground around India, and your support is needed now more than ever. If you can contribute, please do.

If you want your donation to go to general programming, organization founding, infrastructure, equipment, India, anything, please leave a comment when you make your donation, and by law, that is where your donation will go.

Your support in these early stages of an organization looking to make a long term goal of "sharing happiness and changing lives, one puck at a time" will never be forgotten!

Please donate securely by using the ChipIn client on the side of the page.

Thanks!

Adam Sherlip
The Hockey Volunteer

Overdue Update

One of my most recent posts (although it certainly wasn't recent time-wise) mentioned that I was trying to go to Europe for hockey-related work.

Some of you may or may not be aware, but I am already here in Europe...Bern, Switzerland to be exact.

We have just concluded the IIHF World Congress, and have also been watching the IIHF World Championships.

I attended the conference as a delegate of India, and hope that what has transpired will help India and Asian hockey grow!

That will be my only report regarding the IIHF World Congress. The next plan is to attend some IIHF Development Camps in Finland in July.

In the meantime, there will be some final posts regarding Indian hockey in the coming weeks, as well as more pictures (and videos?) as I have an opportunity to do so.

Please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions, comments, concerns or ideas.

I still check my email regularly.

Adam

Rumor has it...

that I will be going to Europe. For hockey.

I cannot confirm or deny this rumor as of yet, nor can I provide any details, but this potential detour before returning to New York is to help grow the program...in a few ways.

I still need your support though, now more than ever!

There is so much in the wood-works here (I want to be as transparent as possible, but I can't divulge everything before it has happened!), all in the spirit of promoting hockey around the world, sharing happiness and changing lives, one puck at a time.

If you can, please donate.


ONE UPDATE I CAN RELEASE: I have begun the procedures to establish this initiative as a not-for-profit corporation, hopefully retro-active to mid-December, when all of this began. If/when everything is complete, your donations will be tax deductible.

Another question for you...

While I have not entirely finished writing about my experiences this Winter with Indian/Ladakhi hockey (There's 1 under construction, with the potential for more posts), there are a few things that come to mind that I would like your feedback on, as my loyal readers:

1. Would you like to read about the experiences I have had in India, independent of hockey? You may or may not be aware, but I have done a lot of travel around India, as I've been doing my writing. Most of my major posts under the "India Ice Hockey" category have been produced between Abu Dhabi, Mumbai (Bombay) & now Kolkata (Calcutta). The writing style would be similar to this blog (as if I knew how to be disimilar to myself), but would not be based on timeline travel, but rather categorically (e.g. Near-death experiences, adventures, pollution, beggars, etc.). There are no shortage of travel writings, or writings about India, but I'd like to believe I can share my months of travel and experience in a new and unique way. So to repeat the question, and expand upon it: Would you like to read about the experiences I have had in India, independent of hockey, and if so, would you prefer that it be posted on this blog, or my other one (thesurelip.com)?
2. As stated early on in this initiative, the mission of "The Hockey Volunteer" is to travel around the world to help developing hockey countries, and change lives, one puck at a time. With that in mind, I would like your suggestions/recommendations/ideas on where to go next. I am in discussion with a handful of organizations around the world, but for now, I will keep that to myself, and see what you come up with! So, to repeat: Where should "The Hockey Volunteer" travel to next, sharing happiness and changing lives, one puck at a time?

Please respond to these questions in the comments section of this blog post, so that it could allow potential discussion.

I hope to hear from you!