On the Countdown to Departure

On 19 June, a group of 6 volunteer travelers will leave Seattle, headed for Cura! As the official wrangler of this band of volunteers, I've been juggling itineraries and payments and donations and details for months now... and I'm looking forward to what I know will be a trip that will see the hard work and planning pay off.

Of course, I haven't been alone in my preparations, so I want to make sure I acknowledge the specific organizations and individuals who have contributed materials and money to support our cause...

Edmonds Community College, for example, donated a laptop to support our Pen Pal program, and Julia Hill donated another to allow the orphanage's director to keep digital records of all the children who live at Cura Rotary Home.

Metzker Maps gave us a great deal on World and Africa maps for the classrooms at Cura Primary School, and Deborah and Carol at the Fabric of Life Foundation helped make that transaction happen. They also gathered educational materials from Syracuse Cultural Workers and donated kits from Days for Girls through Project Thrive!

Pearson Longman publishing donated some educational materials for the school, and Donna Jo Napoli, the author of the children's book, Mama Miti donated several copies for the library in Cura.

The purchase of other materials were made possible through a generous fundraiser by Andrea Austin, selling her CAbi fashion line, and a fundraiser through the Huffington Post.

Dr. Isabel Perez and her team at Accent Dental donated toothbrushes for Cura's children, and children at Lockwood Elementary School are sending artwork to put on the walls of the Home.

All of these people, as well as countless additional well-wishers, have shown such incredible interest in Cura that we know we take their good thoughts with us on our travels. We hope you'll watch this space for updates from our adventure...

Cheers!
Hayden

Volunteers at Work!

Our tireless volunteer, Norm Golightly, was recently featured in the following article:

http://news.therecord.com/Life/article/715376

Check it out!

Also, Seattle-area volunteers are in the planning stages for an organic Farm Dinner on 31 July to support projects in Cura. Please see this link for more information:

http://bealittlespark.blogspot.com/2010/05/summer-event-scheduled.html

Finally, a small group of volunteers will be headed to Cura on 20 June... watch this space for updates on their work!