Reopening of closed daycares February 24th 2014

     Good news- the 3 classrooms at Panyebar are all set up and ready for the kids to file in Monday morning, February 24 th. We hired a van and a pick up truck on Friday to move a fridge, 25 tables and 50 chairs plus all the toys and school supplies that were stored down in San Juan when the centre closed at the end of December for the Christmas break. The umbrella organization, Infantiles SOS had left this region, so we had to work hard to find funding and get our class and kitchen materials back in place.

Four friends went up for the day with us and helped load and unload. We distributed shoes to about 35 kids who really needed them, gave out Spanish reading books that were donated by a group from Wisconsin, U.S.A., prepared an inventory of all supplies brought in that day and dug a place in the school yard to move a play structure with a slide that Brian had made for them.

     The mums were waiting in the bare classroom when we arrived with all the goods. Kids and teachers helped unload. Then we handed out shoes to be tried on. The smiles were so rewarding from both mums and kids as they received new shoes. 

The community had cleaned and leveled the yard out to the side, so they were all happy to share their surprise with us!

Here are some pictures. Enjoy- you all helped this change come about. Thank you. Sheila and Brian

Heritage College preparing for visit to daycares

Heritage College  Students in Gatineau Quebec Preparing teaching kits for daycare teachers 

January 2014 Fundraising Mothers

     The mothers in our biggest, most remote centre are making jewellry from the things they have at hand, which means coffee beans, corn,and other seeds of squash and watermelon. They also use up leftover bits of nylon cord and wool. We will be selling these in the spring to help them keep their centre running and the mothers working.

January 2014

2014 Heritage College team

   Heritage College continues its support of the Daycare Project for the third year by sending down a large team of nursing and early childhood education students, and some of their instructors. They present a workshop to all the Guatemala Daycare teachers.Then visits are made to each centre to do medical assessments and treatments of the children and familiarize both the teachers and their daycare kids with new educational supplies. Heritage students prepare the workshop information and leave health posters and teacher binders of professional activities which they have prepared before coming to Guatemala. They also bring much needed medicines. It is a practical hands- on outreach program for Heritage College and provides a tremendous gift to the daycares.  

LASO from San Jose California joins project

 LASO (Latin American Student Organization) 60 members strong , ranging in age from 14 to 18 from San Jose, California.Their teacher Brenda Mercado contacted us to donate backpacks of school supplies to our daycares this year.
The mission of LASO is to raise acknowledgement of their Latino culture through community service to help their members become confident leaders of the future, and show that even though they are a minority group, they can make a difference. By contributing to our daycare project, they are really stepping up to the plate to help Guatemalan children reach their fullest potential to obtain the opportunities and quality education that children receive back in California. We are very excited that LASO chose to partner with us. Helping a Latin American country was a goal of LASO since its start and these young people are to be commended for this important step in promoting their cause.

JANUARY 10TH 2014 FUNDRAISING

Tyler and McKayla who will be keeping students at Wakefield Elementary school  updated on how donated funds are being used.

  Wakefield Elementary School. Students from Miss Borst's grade 6 class will make posters to display in the school which will highlight how the school's donations to the Guatemala Daycare Project are being given used this year in the daycares. We will send emails with pictures to the school once we begin work in Guatemala. This year 2 wonderful student initiatives featuring grade 5 students who made comic books and Christmas cards and bookmarks were a "hit" at the Christmas Sale.  The proceeds from the sale of these items ( which took the students a month to prepare ) were donated to the daycare project. Thank you to these young entrepreneurs for all their hard work to help those in need.