End of Day 20: $3136.00

Thanks to another generous donation received in the mail, the amount raised from the bowling fundraiser, and an extremely generous donation from a friend who, in lieu of party favors at her wedding, has pledged to donate a small amount for each of her guests to help with the construction of the community center, the total is now over $3000.00!  Thanks again for the continued support!  I am still amazed, and honored that my friend chose to donate to this cause as a part of her wedding!  She is a special person, so doing something wonderful like this on her wedding day does not surprise me, I just feel like I cannot thank her enough.  Find out how you can help too!

One of my favorite days when I was down in the community was when we organized the kids on a community clean up.  I had told the kids we were going to be doing a "fun activity", but didn't tell them what it was going to be.  So... when they found out it was picking up trash, I decided to frame the activity as a competition, and there would be a prize for the group of kids with the most garbage collected.

 A few of the kids with a sack of garbage

 Looking for trash

 Trash in hand on the way to the bag for this team's effort

 Garbage, garbage everywhere...

Posing with one of the many bags of garbage collected

In the end, the kids filled all of the bags we had for them, and all anxiously awaited for me to announce the winning team.  But, there was a catch.  I told them they were all winners, and asked if someone knew why.  One of the kids spoke up and said that they were all winners because now the community was cleaner.  I was so happy.  We went on to talk about how the garbage affects their health and the environment.  We talked about water quality issues and pollution, and we ended the activity with popcorn for everyone.  

End of Day 11: $2015.00

Thanks for another $10 donated today!  Thanks for the continued support.  Please continue to help however you can!  Think $5 is too little?  Think again!  Every little bit helps get closer to the goal!  Check out how you can donate too!  Or, check out these upcoming fundraising events if you would like to help out by going to one (or more) of them.  As always, please feel free to email me if you would like to help organize a fundraising event, have an idea, or just a question for me.

Reminder that tomorrow, March 1st, is a Bowling fundraiser!  If you live in Oregon, check this out:  50/50 Bowling night:  Thursday, March 1st.  6:30 to 8:30 p.m.  Four Seasons Bowling Alley, 322 SE Washington St, Hillsboro, Oregon.  $16 includes 2 hours of bowling and shoe rental and $8 of that goes to this fundraiser!  Also, 15% of any food/beverage sales goes to the fundraiser.  So, if you happen to be in the area, go get some strikes for charity!

I was asked by a friend about the kinds of programming and activities the community would like to see in the community center.  Briefly, the center will be used to hold monthly town meetings as well as any additional town meetings or special events.  There is also a strong desire by community members to have English language instruction for adults and children in the community.  One reason for this is to prepare local community members to be able to act as guides and hosts for potential income-generating ecotourism in the area.  There is also a desire to have programs for women in the community- from workshops to early childhood programming and exercise classes.  A shared community kitchen and playground for children.  Because medical services are an hour away, providing simple health services is also important.  A library and reading area.  An office area for anyone in the community needing a meeting space, to use.  A guest room/house to be used for visitors.  Educational programming for youth and adults, including environmental topics relevant to river health and quality and other environmental concerns highly relevant to daily living.  A computer work area with classes on how to use the machines.  Opportunities for cultural exchanges with youth living in the US.

So there is a brief overview of some of the classes/services the community is hoping to have in the community center.  Of course, the list is not exhaustive, and some opportunities may develop in the future that will be in line with desires of the community, but haven't yet been discussed.

What other things are you curious about?  Let me know!