Sunday, February 27, 2005

The completion (?) of the Mural.


Lydia adds her name to the wall, imortalzing her painting skills.
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The rest of the auditorium: there will be more work for other volenteers! Hand me the paint brush and call the Electrician.
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Neil and Lydia hard at work!
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The trio of Artists take a bow.
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Sandro putting his bag down...this shows the finished and unfinished (they tried) parts of the wall.
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Monday, February 14, 2005

Elaine Angstman presents a "big" check


Elaine Angstman, a director of Adopt a Grandparent (Adopta Un Abueltios), Inc. gives Tonny a check for $1000.00 dollars. Elaine has actually raised a total of $1500.00 since last March when she was last here. A tireless worker for Adopt a Grandparent, Elaine is also involved with an adopted child in Bolivia, her church, her garden, her art and her family, not necessarily in that order.
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Tuesday, February 08, 2005

Shopping at Fey y Alegria for donated clothes.

While the event shown directly below is a shopping event not to be surpassed, a little farther below you will see the completed Rainbow of Lydia's and Neil's (with Sandro). You will also see a picture of Lilmar Lopez and Tonny. There are many ways to volunteer, and Neil and Lydia showed their artistic side, as well as serving meals to the Abueltios, washing dishes, helping in Bingo and a myriad of other activites; Lilimar began a marketing campaign to businesses in Villa, put together a meeting, and a presentation for that meeting. You can also see below a picture of the entire Martincitos' staff.

Directly below, you can see pictures of yesterday's shopping spree at the school Fe y Alegria (Faith and Joy)#17. Sister Cecilia and her volunteers had table upon table of clothing for both men and women, and everyone was given a shopping bag. The whole scene reminded me of Filene's basement (for those of you not from New England, "the basement" is where all of the department store Filene's puts their marked down clothing). since there are so many good deals there, they just lay the merchandise out, and people can scramble for the best deals. Fe y Alegria put together an even better "filene's basement", since all of the clothing was donated.

The donated clothers came from Peruvians. Before you think about shipping old clothes here, please remember that there are duties and taxes at the SerPost post office. Often these "impuestos" are more than the value of the goods inside. A money donation can do two things: 1. allow Adopt a Grandparent to purchase the goods here, helping the Peruvan economy, and 2. allow us to buy that which is most needed at the time.

Please look at the stories of some of our grandparent in "Meet our Grandparents" section; they may need medicine, or a new roof, or shoes. The needs differ over time, and there is always an emergency to deal with.

Currently, the abuelitos who need prescription glasses, will be able to have eye tests next week, and for S/.20.00 (twenty soles, approximately $6.25) they can buy a new pair of glasses.Unfortunately some of the grandparents don't have the twenty soles for the glasses.... Here's where you money donations come in.

Please click on the "Donate Now" button on almost every page, and give us the money for three pairs of glasses ($20.00).

There was an air of excitement and concentration while waiting to enter.
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The Abuelitos in a line waiting to enter Fe y Alegria to look at the clothing.
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Tonny is giving last minute instructions to the "shoppers".
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For those of you not from New England, this is a close approximation of how "Filene's Basement" in Boston looks. Each of the Abuelitos were given shopping bags, and could wander fom table to table for clothes they liked.
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Checking over the merchandise are Celia (in back) and Marcelina (in front) with a Fe y Alegria volunteer/staffer.
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The checkout line...Tonny made sure that everyone took at least 8 pieces of clothing.
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Two of the Abuelitas, Maximiliana and Candelaria with Sister Cecilia.
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A satisfying day "shopping" at the Fe y Alegria "store".
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While Neil and Lydia (and Sandro) were working on the rainbow project, Lilimar Lopez (above left), from Puerto Rico, used her marketing skills to put a presentation together to present to Local businesses. The first presentation will be next week. Here Tonny is explaining how Lili put her interviews of the Abuelitos to good use. This was her last day, so, of course, she got a hug and kiss from everyone...
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Unfortunately, Irene (3rd from right, sitting down), a staffer for two years, has taken a position elsewhere. We had this picture taken of the team together (with a couple of friends) just before she left.
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And after a lot of hard work, and creativity, here's Sandro and some of the abuelitos with the completed wall. To say that it brightens up the place is a real understatement! The abuelitos love it.
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Tuesday, February 01, 2005

"Give us bread, but give us Roses"


The folk song of the same name indicates in poetic form that we need to nurture not only the basics of life, but the art of living. Adopt a Grandparent (Adopta un Abuelito), Inc. donates money to the acquiring of food for the "Grandparents", and it is dedicated to increasing the quality of life for Los Martincito. Money is needed to buy new games and puzzles, to encourage creativity, to enhance the environment. Yes, feeding these desperately poor seniors is of a high priority, but all the other areas of life need to be considered as well.

This is the beginning of a very wonderful mural, being created by Neil and Lydia, two CCS volunteers. The cost of the mural, not counting the time and effort and creativity, was $100 for supplies. There are 5 other walls to be painted, all donations toward this project gratefully accepted.

In order to live in dignity and harmony, the Abuelitos need bread AND roses. Please help!
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The end of the beginning (painting the "yellow brick wall") is celebrated by our two artists!
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