The kids will be smiling!

Tommorrow, I will be flying all night long to get to Granada, Nicaragua. I will be back to my second home on Monday December 29th, 2008 around 10am. I hope to be greeted by some warm & loving faces.

I am also excited because my friend Andres will be getting married to his long time love, and I will be there at his side to see him give his nuptials in the church. He set the date of his wedding to the 29th of December, so I could be there. I will also be celebrating my 8 year old sister Judene's birthday with a pinata bday party jam packed with candy galore.

I have about 3500.00 now for this project, and I am thrilled by this. I will be working hard to make sure that all the kids in El Pantanal get a nice package of school supplies. With the extra money, I will create other projects. Please keep track of my project on this website.

Happy New Year to all!

Special thanks to Haven White, Brenda Knoop, a very kind anonymous donar, the Axemans, Kate McNamara, The Hadfields, The Jennings ladies, & everyone else that have donated recently. Your kindness is overwhelming.

PS the picture is one of my favorite pictures that I took while I was in Nicaragua last year. This little fella was hanging out in the school yard, and he couldn't have been more than 3. Adorable.

1600+

We are lucky to say that many of 'you' generous people have donated again to this great cause. We have about 1600 dollars to work with now, and I am hoping that a few more angels will give the gift of education this year. Remember, I am in town for 3 more weeks so please contact me, if you would like to help as well!:)

Just a recap: I need to supply 500 children of El Pantanal, Nicaragua with school supplies & with any other money, we will create new small projects (perhaps healthy food deliveries?) If you read about Nicaragua, you will find out that malnutrion is a huge problem. Here is an article about Nicaragua on the Canadian RED CROSS website about Nicaragua. http://www.redcross.ca/article.asp?id=567&tid=040

Check it out! There is a job that was posted on the RED CROSS website for a project manager on one of their projects (In Managua, Nicaragua), and I just sat here and realized that it would be my dream job. Too bad, Im not qualified. But who knows, maybe someday? This dream has definetely exceeded all my expectations.

For now, this little project which seriously gives me extreme pleasure, is enough for this girl. It is really worth it when you see them smile.

Special thanks to David Pelland for his kind contribution, both this year & and the year before. It is nice to know that many people care about a country like Nicaragua, that really doesn't get much media attention.

Kathryn

1000 and counting...

So it's been a little while since I have been back in old Canada land and I have managed to raise a few dollars to buy my kids in the school "Jose de La Cruz Mena" school supplies this coming year. A few of my Canadian friends joined me last Sunday for a small breakfast to raise money for my kids. We made about 125.00. The turn out wasn't fabulous but those of my friends who I can always count on, showed up with bells on! Thank you for caring. It turns out I can make a pretty mean breakfast.

The school year in Nicaragua commences at the beginning of February so I am hoping to have atleast 2500 dollars to make our dream a reality. So far we have about 1000 and I will continue to politely ask people if they would enjoy helping my cause! I always have to remind everyone that each of your hard earned dollars goes straight to the kids, we don't take a cent. I would like to be able to supply about 500 children with adequate school supplies which will take the economic burden off their parents. The sad truth is that most of these kids would go to school without anything at all. I want to to remind people that Nicaragua is considered to be the second poorest country to Haiti in the Americas. If you would like to read more about the situation in Nicaragua check out: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/country_profiles/1225218.stm?lid=nicaragua&lpos=day_txt_poorest-country

The picture I posted is one of my favorite kids in Nicaragua named Oscar. He has been apart of the program at the spanish school I attended "Casa Xalteva" for about 3 years now. Juan Carlos whom I share this project with, met him a few years back when he was looking for water to drink. Juan Carlos invited him to join the program at Casa Xalteva where he could receive free schooling, meals, and a warm place to put his head at night. Oscar comes from a loving home that just simply could not afford to take care of his important needs. Casa Xalteva really inspired me to help other kids in other communities such as El Pantanal, where the situation is even more dire. If you are interested in studying spanish abroad, I highly reccommend Casa Xalteva. They not only provide great instruction & great laughs, but also some of your money goes towards helping street boys. For more information check out their website at: http://www.casaxalteva.com/

I love Oscar even though he tries to convince me on a regular basis that I am a dirty gringa (that doesn't bathe.) We have a good laugh together.

Christmas is coming up and I hope that people think about how overboard we can all get with the consumerism. We have everything we need in our society...ipods, iphones, wees..etc. It's actually pretty sick. I hope you think about doing something a little bit more meaningful whether it is donating to a local charity or helping my kids in Nicaragua. As Gandhi put it..."Be the Change you Wish to See in the World." It's just that easy.

I am very inspired by other people who are helping out in other ways. My good and long term friend Tara fell in love with the community of Gulu in Uganda, Africa. She is now involved with her own project situated out of Montreal raising funds to provide basic health care to children. For information regarding this project please email me at: puedenreir@gmail.com.

I would also like to thank family friends who have kindly donated money to my cause. Thank you to Michelle Pelland & Jim + Linda Millala for your kind contributions.

Muchas Gracias.

Garage Sale in Victoria BC

Garage Sale
Saturday September 6th 9am-5pm
for address details please email me at: puedenreir@gmail.com

To fundraise for our project “Si Quieres, Pueden Reir” (If you want, they can laugh!) This is a project that raises money to buy children school supplies in a very poor area of Nicaragua (outside the beautiful colonial city Granada.)

Come by to:
1) find some interesting items for you or your house
2) Make a donation (5.00 will buy one child school supplies)
3) Have a free silk road tea

We raised enough money last year to supply all 500 kids in this school “Jose De La Cruz Mena” . We also made improvements to this school and built toilets for another school that had one broken toilet for 1100 children.

Happy Birthday Emily!:)

This is a speacial blog entry to wish Emily Crandall of Seattle, Washington a very happy birthday. I met Emily in Granada, Nicaragua and we were placed in the same spanish class for one week. That was by far one of the best weeks of spanish class, as we learned a lot but also spent quite a bit of time teaching our teacher slang and dirty words in english:) In that time, she learned about our project "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir". Emily and her husband Drew came out with Andres and I on one of our first ventures to El Pantanal and the school "Jose de la Cruz Mena". Drew and Emily also spared some precious travel money (as they still had 5 months more to travel around South America) to buy us some notebooks and supplies for the kids. Thus Emily truly witnessed the birth of our project and Im happy to say that she will also allow it to grow further. Emily's sister in law Jen Bowerman of San franciso wrote me to let me know how Emily had talked about our project in Nicaragua and that she wanted to donate money in Emily's name for her birthday. We graciously accept 100.00 American dollars in Emily Crandall's name to continue our project in El Pantanal, Nicaragua. I will be heading back to Granada, Nicaragua in early January just in time for the beginning of the school year and this money will be used to buy our 500 students their packages of school supplies. I want to thank Jen Bowerman and her husband for their kindness and as well as to Emily & her husband Drew for everything as well.:)

My friend Juan Carlos (who I stayed with & who works with me on the project) pointed out Emily's dimples when she smiled. Juan Carlos loves dimples because his 8 year old daughter Judene has an incredible pair. When Juan Carlos saw Emily for the first time in Casa Xalteva as she waited for our spanish class to start, he asked her in spanish "what class are those dimples going to". Of course we didn't understand what he meant at the time but he explained (as he always does...)

Happy Birthday Emily. I hope you are smiling today. Ojala que estes sonriendo.:) Make sure to come to Victoria sometime to visit.

Toilets are done... now we need some cash!

Just writing a quick update to say that we have finished those ever famous toilets for the kids about 2 weeks ago. I am going to post some pictures of them when I can, as I am not in Nicaragua anymore... and I am relying on my friends in Granada to send me those. However, rest assured that the kids now have 6 flush toilets (for 1100 students) rather than 1 for 1100!!!! We feel good about it. And we hope you do too.

Now we are trying to raise some funds so that we can give our kids at Jose De La Cruz Mena a second round of school supplies. These kids will each receive a package of 6 notebooks, 2 pens, 1 pencil, an eraser, and a pencil sharpener. It costs about 5.00 to supply one child. Each child will get a package (no matter if the child is less poor than another) we feel that this part of Granada (El Pantanal) is generally economically struggling and do not pick and choose. Therefore, rest assured that these happy smiling faces will all be getting the same package.

If you can in anyway help with our project please email me.
puedenreir@gmail.com

Donate!! We need your $$$$$

To those who would like to donate to my cause... for those damn cute Nica kids.. I now have a pay pal account & you can send me money that I will directly send to Nicaragua. Right now the money will go towards finishing our "toilet project" and then after that we will be raising money to resupply our kids in the school Jose De La Cruz Mena. We will need about 4000 for that resupply project.

What you need to do is sign up for a free pay pal account https://www.paypal.com and after that is done send whatever amount you feel compelled to send to my email address which is yourfriendkathryn@gmail.com
I know that I am not an NGO as of yet but you can be assured that the money goes straight to the source and that I don't take a dime of your hard earned cash. It is possible that this project will turn into an organization but as of now we are simply a project. PS no amount is too small.... 6.00 can resupply one child with the proper school supplies.

Kathryn

Updated OUR STORY description

Our Story
Si Quieres, Pueden Reir (If you want, they can laugh) is a project afiliated with a larger and well established organization called Casa Xalteva. Casa Xalteva is a non profit spanish school and educational center in the heart of Granada, Nicaragua which raises funds to help care for children that come from harsh economic conditions. "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir" is a project inspired by the philosophy of Casa Xalteva which is to help others that are in need without religious or personal biases. http://www.casaxalteva.com

Our project was founded by three people from Casa Xalteva. Our project consists of one former student from Canada (Kathryn Moncur) and two local Nicaraguans who are important staff members at Casa Xalteva (Jose Andres Martinez Barahona and Juan Carlos Roblero.) Through generous foreign donations and money raising projects, we will continue to help the school "Jose De La Cruz Mena" in El Pantanal (Granada, Nicaragua.) Our main goal is to be able to supply each student of this school with a package of school supplies twice yearly. This is to ensure that the children have the proper supplies for optimal learning.

We also discuss and create other projects within the school in order to improve the conditions for not only the students but the teachers who are working in the environment. We would like to continue to support this school within El Pantanal in order to encourage and motivate the children to stay in school.

As my friend Juan Carlos says… “It is all worth it when you see them laugh”

Toilets are almost done!!

I am writing you from Canada ( I returned a week ago) to let you know that our 4 flush toilets that we are putting into the school are almost finished. We have also repaired the other two toilets that already existed. Therefore within weeks the children will be priveleged to use 5 flush toilets (instead of one) and the teacher's will continue to have their own personal toilet. I have received word from Nicaragua that we are lacking a little bit of money for the roofs and doors for the toilets. Therefore it is my hope that I can raise more money so that we can complete this project very soon.

As soon as I have updated pictures of the toilets, I will be posting them for your viewing purposes.

I want to thank Oliver Hartman once again for heading this project and making sure it went so well. Our team that we hired for this project worked hard in the rain and hot sun without the tools that we are spoiled with in Canada and the USA ( like tractors ect.) Everything was done by shovels and picks!! These guys are seriously strong and amazing workers. We are also lucky to have been given the gift of a discount because this project was to help a local school. We are very grateful for that.

Please let me know if you would be willing to donate to finishing this project. We have now discovered a way to send money to Nicaragua that doesn't cost money.

email me puedenreir@gmail.com

Update on Toilet Project!

We are happy to announce that we will begin construction of 4 flush toilets in the school on Monday May 19th. We will also be repairing 2 existing toilets at the school that for much time have been broken. We have sufficient funds at the moment but are still missing about 300.00 to complete the job. We hope that more generous donations will be made:)!

We have a construction/plumbing team that will working with us (discounted because this is a community project) as well as students and teachers that will be volunteering to help with the construction. Basically we will be digging holes (until it kills us or maybe just me....) This is going to be some REAL volunteer work.

We are very excited to begin this project because it will change the environment greatly at this school. I wrote before that the kids at the moment have 1 toilet for more that 900 students (I was mistaken on the number previously it is more like 1100 students for 1 toilet.) The unsanitary conditions of the toilet were witnessed by our team the day we visited and we have never been able to forget about it. Therefore, we hope to create a more sanitary and respectable environment for the kids who attend.

Thanks to those who have donated and especially to a student named Karine who managed to raise 1200 in her home town of Montreal to donate to our project. She as well will be helping dig holes with our team.

I would also like to especially thank Oliver Hartman who got the ball rolling on this project by making connections with the construction team. He also plans to work 8 hr days helping the construction team on site.... That is devotion! Therefore, it is my pleasure to invite Oliver to be apart of our project. This comes at a convenient time since I will be going home to Canada in less than 3 weeks and Oliver will be here in Granada for a year. Oliver will be able to help Andres and Juan Carlos continue to make positive changes for our original school project in "Jose de la Cruz Mena".

thank you Kathryn.

Helping the streets dogs

I just wanted to post a quick blurb about the organization "Building New Hope" which is helping many streets dogs get off the street and find homes in Granada. I have recently taken on a secondary volunteer job helping with the dogs in the clinic and I am in love with the kindness of these people and what they are doing.

Basically they find dogs that are dying along the side of street (if you have been to a third world country you know what I am talking about) and bring these animals back to life. I got to witness the revival of a baby chihuahua that was left for dead on the side of the street and brought into the clinic. Within two days, she is a puppy, running around and loving on all of us.

Please take the time and check out Donna Tabor's website www.buildingnewhope.org and keep them in mind if you want to help the puppies or adopt a lovely street dog (which surprisingly make amazing pets... they are wise!)

The picture at the top is Porsha who is still looking for a home. She is missing an eye due to a severe infection caused by abuse. She has an amazing personality and is sooooo friendly.

thanks Kathryn.

The Toilets.

Right now our main focus is another school close by to our main project site "Jose de la Cruz Mena". The reason why we are now putting more focus on this other school called Escuela "Mercedes Mondagón" is because of the attocity that we all witnessed when we visted this other school. For a school of 900 children there are 2 toilets. However one toilet is locked and reserved for the teachers. Therefore, in reality there is one toilet for 900 children. I should also add that the toilet does not flush.

The situation is completely unsanitary. Once the toilet is full of human feces, the children begin to go on the floor and then they will venture behind the toilet and go on the dirt ground. Our concern is for the children and also for the woman who cleans up the toilet at the end of the day. Most of us couldn't bare the smell nor the sight. I felt sad that this is a reality for the children and feel that noone should have to go to the bathroom in these horrid conditions. I would also like to point out that the director of the school has written the government countless times and they have done nothing to improve her situation.

Our wish is that we can build either 6 flush toilets or 6 outhouses for this school. This requires about 4,000 dollars that we need to raise.

We do not try to go out of our way to find new projects outside of what we want to do (help and supply the kids in El Pantanal) but this situation is one that we cannot forget nor ignore. Please help us raise more money!!!!

Please send me suggestions as well. Puedenreir@gmail.com

Kathryn, Andres, y Juan Carlos

Volunteer day in El Pantanal

On Tuesday of last week we ventured to the school "Jose de la Cruz Mena" with a group of 30 students from San Francisco. The goal was to get their hands dirty and to experience Nicaragua outside of the tranquility of Granada. Our 3 projects included painting a murale, planting trees, and collecting garbage along the edges of the school. For the most part, the projects went smoothly and the teenagers got to know the children of the school quite well. Unfortunately, a crazy Spaniard named Nas started a paint fight and everyone ended up covered from head to toe. Luckily for everyone, the paint came off our skin and clothes easily.
The project with the trees will also provide volunteer opportunities for the students in Casa Xalteva. We will be needing students to visit the school and look after the trees. Watering and care projects will soon be implemented. As for now, the director of the school is in charge of making sure that the trees are watered.
The best part of the day was seeing all the children having fun with the "gringitos". So far we have been quite successful in making the children of the school laugh.. as we have wanted to (Si Quieres, Pueden Reir.)

Pictures from the volunteer day with the teens from San Francisco

Do you want to help us??

If you would like to send us something that could help right now... We need dry eraser pens for the new acrylic white boards that we donated to the school. We have donated about 12, but we need to continue to donate the pens to the school as they dry out quite fast. Here is the address to Casa Xalteva if you are at all interested in this opportunity.

Casa Xalteva
Calle Real Xalteva #103
Igl. Xalteva 1/2 al Norte
Granada, Nicaragua
Please address your package with the name Juan Carlos Roblero and Si Quieres, Pueden Reir.


We are still working on a good way for foreign donations that does not require a lot of time or hassle. However, money is continually needed as our next big project requires a fairly large amount of money. We are hoping to build a few toilets for another school close by to "Jose de la Cruz Mena". The situation is very horrifying as there are 900 students and one toilet that does not work. Therefore, the conditions are EXTREMELY unsanitary and unsafe for the children. I will be posting more information on this topic soon. But for now, I would love to have feeback about ways to promote foreign donations and ways to send money to a country like Nicaragua.
please email me at puedenreir@gmail.com

thanks!

We Care About the Kids in El Pantanal

Jose De La Cruz Mena is becoming a more adequate environment for the Children of El Pantanal. On Friday, we delivered the school 2 brand new beautifully handcrafted wooden book shelves. The director of the school had made it clear to us that his biggest desire was to have a place to put all the books that had been donated to the school. So the director was extremely appreciative of the donation and requested that we place a plack on the book shelves with the name of our project "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir". This is so that the students of the school remember that our project has helped their school tremendously. We will of course follow through with this request.

This Tuesday, we will be returning to the school with a group of 30 students to do some serious volunteer work. Our plan for that day is as follows- 1 group will be planting trees around the edge of the fence to promote shade for the students. We will be buying trees that do not require a lot of water and thrive in the tropical conditions of Nicaragua. The second group will be collecting garbage in El Pantanal with a group of designated students from the school "Jose de la Cruz Mena". This is a great learning experience for the students from the USA because they will get to see how people in El Pantanal are living and will have a chance to improve the environmental conditions. It is also important for the Nicaraguan students, as there is a severe problem or lack of consciouness towards the physical environment. This beautiful country is ridden with garbage because of the simple act of littering pretty much everything. We hope to promote the simple task of placing garbage in the correct place (not in the streets, trees, gutters, ditches ect.) Our third project is going to be a murale that both our American students and Nica students will be doing together. The murale will be placed on an obvious wall in the school, so that the kids in El Pantanal can remember this day. I will be writing about this day, after it occurs, and I will be positing many pictures!

I also want to especially thank a fellow named Karsten from Denmark who not only donated a very generous amount to us but encouraged his friends at home to donate. Thank you so much for your kindness and generosity. His passion to help others is extremely obvious and we all think very highly of him. Que te vaya bien.

Que tengan un buen dia.
Kathryn, Andres, y J.C.

More Exciting NEWS!!!!!!~

We are extremely proud to tell you that we have completely finished supplying all the children in the school "Jose De La Cruz Mena" with school supplies (both the morning and afternoon classes.) As well as, we gave the preschool class a large package of colored paper, felt pens, glue, scissors, and other kinds of materials that are useful for art projects.

We also donated 6 brand new dry eraser boards to the school. This was one of the best moments for us, as the appreciation from the teachers was intense. One of the teachers almost cried as we presented her with a brand new "black board" for her classroom. This is a very special donation because the blackboards that the teachers were previously using were those that require chalk. Chalk is considered a health risk that can cause lung problems and conditions like asthma. Thus, we have improved the working conditions for the teachers greatly and it makes us feel very satisfied! THANKS TO YOU!!!

What is next? We have payed for 2 book shelves that will fit 300+ books. They are currently being built and we will deliver them to the school as soon as it's possible.

This week and the following week we have a group of 30 students from a highschool in San Franciso (French American International High School) studying spanish at Casa Xalteva and tonight we will be giving a presentation about our project! We will be presenting them with our goals and what they can do to help us. Our hope is to have a day where we can all go to El Pantanal to plant trees in the school yard in order to create needed shade.

Thank you for continuing to check the updates on our site.

Gracias por todo.
Kathryn, Andres, y Juan Carlos.

Another delivery and More to Come!

On Wednesday of this past week, we finished delivering packages to all the afternoon students. FYI: the packages consist of 6 notebooks, 2 pens, 1 pencil, an eraser, and a sharpener. Then on Thursday, we went to visit the morning students and bring them their packages. It became apparent that many students who were in need of school supplies, did not receive anything. So we got the teachers to write out all the names of the students who didn't receive a package and promised to return the next week to finish off the delivery. The next day (Friday) we bought all the supplies for all the students in the morning classes and on Wednesday of this week, we will be finishing off our delivery of school supplies. It is satisfying knowing that all the students will soon have all the proper school supplies to properly take advantage of their education.

Another exciting update is that we have ordered and payed for 6 large white boards (pizarras)for the classrooms. They will be ready for us on Tuesday and we will be able to bring the teachers brand new white boards for their classrooms, as well as new dry eraser markers. This donation is not only going to make the lives of the teachers easier but going to improve the learning process of the students.

It is because of all your kind donations that we have been able to make all this possible for the school and the students that attend. It is our hope that we can continue to make improvements to the school as well as the neighbourhood of El Pantanal.

What we have done so far and what is to come!!

2 weeks ago- we made our first delivery.
We rented a "camioneta" (pick-up truck) and packed it with a fresh supply of specially made packages for each individual child. Kathryn, Andres, and Juan Carlos lead the team with the help of some teachers and staff from Casa Xalteva Spanish school (Greisy, Maria Amanda, and Manuel GRACIAS!!) Not to mention we had some Casa Xalteva Spanish students come along to help out. We distributed packages to the kids in the afternoon that day. However, our wise friend Juan Carlos noticed that there were new faces in the classrooms that we hadn't met before. We then, decided that we needed to make new packages for these students as well.

This week we will be making another delivery to all the morning students and those afternoon students who are still in need of supplies.

Once this week of hard work is over, I will update the blog again with more exciting news, updates, and plans!!

Our Plan

Through the generosity of donations we hope to...................

1) Supply the children who attend Jose De La Cruz Mena with school supplies which include notebooks, pencils and pens, backpacks, uniforms, shoes, pencil sharpeners, erasers (all the necessities to learn effectively). This is an important need since about half the students go without these school supplies.

2) To improve the conditions of the school
a) The school grounds are desert like, thus we would like to plant as many trees as possible to provide a better school playground.
b) The school has no library, thus we would like to purchase or build library shelves to store about 300 books that currently "live" on the floor in boxes.
c)Teachers have limited materials, thus we would like to provide them with functional replacement tools like blackboards and working lights.
d) The director of the school has also requested that we build them a covered basketball court

3) Help the neighborhood with hygienic products like soap, deodorant, shampoo, toothpaste, and toothbrushes. Food and used or new clothing donations are needed.

4) Build a new additional bathroom for another school affiliated with Jose De La Cruz Mena school that only has one toilet facility for 900 students. The toilet does not work well and requires that a teacher clean it out after each visit.

Why El Pantanal?

Casa Xalteva has a connection with El Pantanal because our good friend Jose Andres, who is originally from the area and whose family is still living there, has been living at Casa Xalteva since he was 9 years old. Andres was apart of Casa Xalteva's educational shelter program which was founded by Dr.Ken Carpenter and Dr.Gregory Calvert in 1995. Before the age of 9, Andres worked daily collecting garbage with his older brother (without shoes) until he had the opportunity to come and live at Casa Xalteva.

El Pantanal is located outside of Granada and is considered by most as the garbage dump or "chureca". 80% of the people in El Pantanal work 12 hour days looking for plastic, metal, and copper in the garbage dump. For one pound of Copper or Iron collected it is possible to earn 7 cordobas. Plastic and other types of metal are usually about 1 cordoba per pound. For your information... the exchange rate between the cordoba and the american dollar is 19 for one american dollar. Both Andres' step father and brother continue to work in this field daily, and continue to suffer economically.

Andres is currently 22 and his education continues being sponsored by Casa Xalteva. He also works as Casa Xalteva's "Tour Guide" for student afternoon excursions . He does a great job taking students to spots off the beaten path and always has them laughing out loud. He is currently finishing his last year of school before he enters university.

It is both Andres' hope and our desire that we can help the children of El Pantanal. We hope that our efforts can enable the children to maintain a meaningful education.

Our Story

Si Quieres, Pueden Reir (If you want, they can laugh) is a project afiliated with a larger and well established organization called Casa Xalteva. Casa Xalteva is a non profit spanish school and educational center in the heart of Granada, Nicaragua which raises funds to help care for children that come from harsh economic conditions. "Si Quieres, Pueden Reir" is a project inspired by the philosophy of Casa Xalteva which is to help others that are in need without religious or personal biases.

Our project was founded by three people from Casa Xalteva. Our organization consists of one student from Canada (Kathryn Moncur) and two local Nicaraguans who are important staff members at Casa Xalteva (Jose Andres Martinez Barahona and Juan Carlos Roblero.) Through our work and the help of other generous staff members and students, we are devoted to help the school "Jose De La Cruz Mena" by raising funds, collecting materials, and creating excursions to the school and town. Another goal is to educate students about the reality of poverty and the possible solutions that create hope.