“Love in Action Update”

Hope you enjoy this great photo of some of our girls!  Thanks to the generosity of Sandy Kramer,  we have quite a collection of dress-up clothes for the girls.  They love to dress up and parade around looking beautiful.  Now we just need some dress-up clothes for the little boys………cowboy, construction worker, astronaut, whatever you can find.  We can’t let the girls outdo the boys!!!!

We had a wonderful volunteer gathering today–celebrating the accomplishments of many experienced volunteers, and welcoming some new volunteers.  It was a great chance to meet one another, to hear about new volunteer opportunities, and to get an update on Oasis from our Director, Anabel Frutos.  Here is what you missed:

These are some of the jobs we have open right now:

1.  Computer/internet guru – Love in Action email is currently stored on somebody else’s server, and we need to change this.  If you can he lp us, please email me.

2.  We currently have volunteers cooking and serving comida on Mondays and Wednesdays.  We would like to add another day to this schedule, and the people who currently volunteer on Monday would be happy to help you/train you if you are interested.  If you are interested or have questions, contact Weezie Burgess at  weezieburgess@gmail.com.

3.  We are still looking for help with our early childhood intervention program.  If you are interested, contact Ellie McEvoy at emcevoy2007@yahoo.com

It looks like our ownership of Oasis will be a reality this week!!!  We are so excited that our dream is coming true!  So, we are beginning to think about what kind of work is needed before the children can be relocated.  Just a reminder that the daycare children will remain in the current facility called “Love in Action” on the hill above Chapala.  The residential children will be moved to Oasis which will be called “Love in Action 2″ just to keep things clear. 

We are beginning to recruit volunteers to help with this big move, which won’t be complete for 2-3 months.  Our plan is to send in an advance team of expert contractors, architects, etc. to evaluate j ust what needs to be done.  Jim Burgess (jburgess8507@gmail.com)  will be on this team, which is currently being assembled by Sandy Cross (sandel60@yahoo.com).  In the months ahead, we will need repair guys, gardeners, painters, cleaners, cupboard emptiers, and movers.  We need boxes and pickup trucks and assorted cleaning and painting supplies, etc.   What team can you join?  What special skills do you have to help us?  We will also need some money to pay for supplies…would you like to contribute?  Do you have cleaning/painting supplies in your cupboards to share with us?

Just a word of caution: this work will be done over several months; most of it will not start until after Christmas, and the kids will not move until Love in Action 2 is ready to receive them.  So if your schedule is jampacked for the next couple of weeks, we still need and want your help!

We’ve had 2 great fundraisers in the past few weeks which were quite successful.  We are trying our best to raise the rest of the money needed to pay for the new property now called Love in Action II.  If you have any GREAT fundraising ideas, please let me know. 

I like to be politically correct, so let me wish all of you

“Happy Holidays!”  To my fellow Christians–”Merry Christmas!”