We would like to thank all of our sponsors and donors for their generous support this year. Special Thanks to;
Peggy Brewin Preschool who partnered with our project for the first time. Besides a cash donation; their young students lovingly prepared special art projects and sent sticker packs, hair supplies and shoesto the Mayan children.
Wakefield Elementary School for their continued cash Christmas sale donation plus new student initiatives - the design of greeting cards, bookmarks and comic books which were sold to provide additional funds.
Heritage College For their volunteer outreach team of 31 people who visited Guatemala including students, educators and health care professionals. This group delivered the most successful teacher workshop to date to 61 participants featuring local teachers from nine different regions.
The Heritage students prepared school kits and medical information to promote healthy living and donated shoes, eye glasses, tooth brushes, first aid supplies and medicine when they visited the various centres.
All of our incredible Donors who continue to support our program year after year. Many thanks for giving us the means to accomplish our goal of improving the lives of the Mayan children in our program.
Incredible year of change for Guatemala Daycare Project.
For years we have been working under the umbrella organization "Infantiles SOS" in Guatemala who was responsible for payment of rent, food and salaries. Suddenly, in December 2013, InfantilesSOS left several regions of Guatemala, resulting in the closure of many daycare centres, including ours.
We had a very busy winter in Guatemala and reinvented our program to continue providing educational and health support for Mayan children in the Lake Atitlan region. As you can imagine, without the umbrella organization in place, the expenses were daunting; however we have been able to reopen Panyebar our largest and longest running centre.
We are making positive changes to move forward.
1. Our name is transitioning to Saludos Ninos - a Spanish name indicating a greeting and wellness.
In order for a child to learn proper nutrition is imperative, our oganization will focus on nutrition and early learning.
2. A board of directors is being created to involve people who are already interested in this project.They are determined to work together to secure and administer funds for Panyebar not as a daycare but rather an early learning and nutritional centre.
3 To make this a sustainable project for the future we are working with the mothers and teachers at Panyebar to produce marketable products such as jewelery to support their reopened centre.
4 We have partnered with a U.S. charity "Miracles in Action" who are updating the menus to provide quality nutrition. and have kindly agreed to handle U.S. donations for tax purposes.
Future fundraisers are in the works, we will keep posted. Your continued support is appreciated.
