Christmas Party

Thanks to a very generous extra donation by Cross International Catholic Outreach, the Mount Carmel School Feeding Program was able to put on a Christmas Party for the 100 students in the program! I think the kids had a lot of fun and felt very special by the event!

For more pictures and a description please see Tasha's blog (for some reason I am having a really really hard time uploading any pics to school feeding program blog)

http://tashatimes.blogspot.com/

Thank you Cross International Catholic Outreach

Thanks to Cross International Catholic Outreach's financial assistance, Mount Carmel Primary School's School Feeding Program is up and running! We are feeding 96 kids lunch from Monday through Thursday and we are already noticing some improvement in their personal and academic lives.

We have noted that the number of latecomers (tardy after lunch or not returning to school at all) has decreased. Because these children live in extremely poor conditions, their attendance to school was very irregular and thanks to the school feeding program we have noticed an increase in class attendance. The students in the school feeding program come from very poor families and often live in very remote areas. Some students have to walk 30 minutes in order to get home for lunch which leaves them tired and with hardly any time to eat. When they do go home the food that makes up their lunch often consists of tortillas rubbed with lard and salt which hardly makes for a sustaining or energizing meal. The principal has noted that these students are less tardy to class and more enthusiastic.

In addition, most of the students in the program come from single parent families who struggle to make ends meet and often experience their child as a financial burden which often means that the child and our student is neglected and poorly fed.

There is a very high rate of unemployment in Benque Viejo and the principal has stated that the unemployment is so great that it is leading to desperation which is reflected in our children and their poor academic performance which I believe is greatly due to a lack of basic needs being fulfilled.

So thanks to Cross International's generosity we are trying our best to provide a sustaining meal that will help these children achieve success in both their academic and personal lives.

We have several other means of utilizing donations such as for extending our shed where students eat and being able to provide more financial assistance to families for books and uniforms so we invite you to be generous with our endeavors. Thank you!

Natasha Hermann, M.Ed.
School Counselor

Students in line waiting for their lunch

 

Thank you Cross International Catholic Outreach

Here are some of 96 students who participate in the School Feeding Program funded by Cross International Catholic Outreach. 

Students enjoying their lunches from the School Feeding Program

 

The shed is being extended

Thanks to a donation from Social Security in Belize, the school is able to extend the shed where students consume their lunches. It's nice to have a bit more space! 

Young girls with their "boletos" tickets for lunch

 

School Feeding Program participant with his ticket for lunch

 

The Tzalams

Here's a few members of the Tzalam family who are being helped through Cross International Catholic Outreach funding of the school feeding program and books for needy children. The young girl has very bad psorasis and is often covered with sores. Unfortunately they come from a very upsetting family situation in which the father is known to be as they say here a "Romeo" and it said that he has 2 wives. 

Yipee! Great news for school feeding program!

Oh my goodness fine friends and family, I just received incredible news that I know will make your day too!

I submitted a grant proposal to Cross International Catholic Outreach requesting funding for Mount Carmel Primary School's School Feeding Program for next year and I just received an email from the organization approving our proposal! They have awarded us US$ 17,388 for the 2006-2007 school year. Holy smokes! That's like a katrillion dollars here! What a relief! It's been a great experience to start up and facilitate a school feeding program but very stressful to deal with wondering whether we'll have the money to pay for all. God is so good and always provides so well! How cool, huh?

To find out more info about this dynamite organization, please check out the website: http://www.crosscatholic.org/

But not to worry, I have plenty of other very meaningful means of utilizing funds so if you're in a generous mood, please remember the mission down here!

Finances for past 2 weeks

We're feeding 73 students! Whoa! We're hoping to have more funding so as to offer more of a variety of foods (hopefully more fresh vegetables and fruits) than rice, beans, & chicken. 7 more weeks to go!

Week of May 8: $212.50BZ for 170 lunches
Week of May 12: $261.25BZ for 209 lunches.

Thank you for all of your financial support but also thank you for all of your prayers and kind words of support! These kids are so blessed to have such generous and loving people in their lives.

Unfortunatley, my camera was stolen Saturday night so it will be very difficult for me to post any pictures on blog. :(

finances last 3 weeks

Cost for past 3 weeks:

Week of March 31st: $303.75 - 243 lunches
Week of April 7th: $213.75 - 171 lunches
Week of April 28th: $290 - 232 lunches

Our list includes 72 students.

9 more weeks for the school feeding program! Which hopefully at most should cost about $2700BZ...yikes. :)

Thank you for all of your generous contributions. There is no way I can express to you how grateful the school and students are for your kind hearts!

Financial report on Feeding Hungry Students

We're working hard to feed many hungry students thanks to financial support and donations.

Here's a brief rundown of lunches sold and cost past month!

Week of February 28-March 2: 103 lunches sold = $128.75 BZ = $64.37 US
Week of March 7-9: 182 lunches sold = $227.50 BZ = $113.75 US
Week of March 13-16: 239 lunches sold = $298.75 BZ = $149.37 US
Week of March 20-23: 265 lunches sold = $331.25 BZ =$165.62 US

We're depending upon your continued generosity to continue the program! Thank you!

"Keep a good heart. That's the most important thing in life. It's not how much money you make or what you can acquire. The art of it is to keep a good heart." - Joni Mitchell

Feeding 72!

Life has been absolutely crazy for me during the past few weeks, so my apologies for the tardy update.

But often no news is good news!

Thanks to the generosity of many kind folks, we've been feeding 72 students a week. This averages about $300 BZ a week or $150 US. We're hoping that we'll be able to continue to feed these precious students until the end of the school year, which is June 30th.

We've got several months left, so please, if you can, make a contribution to this great school feeding program! It really is making a difference and you can rest assured that you're making it possible!

Thanks!