It was Lisa’s vision to start PLAY and she held the first PLAY camp in December 2013. Her previous careers uniquely shaped her to create and run PLAY. Lisa spent 10 years as a physical education teacher of Grade 7 students, 11 years as a deputy district attorney fighting for the rights of victims, and 2 years as a director of orphan programs in the township of Soshanguve. It was her 2 years working in the township that broke her heart for the children of South Africa and motivated her to tackle the social justice issues determined to break them. She spent 10 years living in South Africa while developing PLAY but now bases in USA with annual trips to South Africa to host teams.
Lawrence has been a part of PLAY since 2015, as a camp director and team facilitator. In 2023 he joined PLAY full time as the Program Director. Lawrence’s skills, education and experience are exactly what PLAY needs to grow and better meet the needs of the youth that we serve. He is proudly South African, knows the issues these children face, and is an inspiring role model to
the youth of South Africa. His education was in Theology and Christian Leadership, as well as IT, Graphic Design, Social Media and Marketing. He has over 9 years experience organizing and running leadership and team building camps and has exciting plans to expand PLAY’s involvement in the lives of the campers beyond the 5 days of camp.
PLAY has an amazing group of young adults who serve as facilitators at PLAY camp – their hearts for the children shine bright and their expertise at what they do impacts campers deeply and forever. They have been with PLAY for years and we could not do it without them.
On the last day of PLAY camp, campers are told they can return to PLAY camp as facilitators if they graduate from high school and are still on fire for Jesus – motivation to stay in school! PLAY has now trained our first round of past PLAY campers and received grant funding that allows us to pay them to be trained.
Our Board of Directors is the governing body of PLAY as a nonprofit organization in both the USA and South Africa. They focus on strategy, oversight and accountability by ensuring that programs are always in line with PLAY’s vision and that spending is within budget, transparent, and ethical. All our members serve on a volunteer basis and were chosen for their experience and passion for PLAY!
We are currently recruiting for the position of Treasurer on the Board of Directors. If you are
interested or would like to nominate someone, please contact us at
PLAYnonprofit.org@gmail.com
