Thank You to our Wisconsin Work Team

A huge thank you to Pam and Rich Garman for arranging the work team, hosting their visit to Guatemala and working alongside all the team members. This is the second year that our Wisconsin work team has visited, and for many this was the second year on the team as well. What a treat for us. This year our work team built an amazing play set for the kids, painted, built an arbor, installed our drinking fountain and did lots of maintenence work. Needless to say that my “honey-do” list was long for this team and I am so grateful to everyone who came and worked. Our kids love the new play set and I am thrilled with everything that that was done for us. The work teams are made up of people who work long hours and then spend their vacations and money giving back. We were fortunate that they gave back to us, at Semillas de Amor.

About the foot lockers. When I was asked by Pam and Rich, several months, ago for our wish list of projects, on my list of priorities were foot lockers for our oldest kids. Children raised in institutional settings do not have their own bedrooms and rarely have a place to keep their personal items. This can be very difficult for children because anything that belongs to them is generally used by everyone. I feel that it is very important for kids to have their own personal space, a place that is theirs. Craig designed amazing foot lockers for the kids, and then he and Rich built 17 footlockers for our kids. When the foot lockers went into the kids’ bedrooms the children began to dig under their mattresses, in the pillow cases, under the pillows for their things they had safely put away and put them in their own locker. All the kids were informed of the new rule regarding the foot lockers, no touching anyone else’s locker or risk losing yours. Privacy is somewhat of a novel concept in institutional settings, although only a few of the foot lockers have been seized. What a difference these foot lockers have made in the children’s lives. A space of their own. Thank you Rich and Craig!

A huge thank you to our Wisconsin Team, Mary, Jack, Barb, Rick, Ann, Tim, Kathy, Kathy, Dave, Nancy and Craig, Rich, Pam, Our Saviors Lutheran Church, Guatemala Mission, Lisa and Jason, Scott and Julie, Lisa, Connie, Tom, Helen, and Todd. See you in 2011!!!!

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