Orphan’s Hope Project Blog

Yes, Nico, our beloved friend from the Netherlands, has just returned from Guatemala. If you remember, Nico was the on site administrator for a number of months. She was one of my roommates on my first trip to the hogar in May 2006. When she moved to Guatemala City, she commuted in each day. Later, she relinquished her administrative position but became the English teacher for about 6 months. The private school boys were in her English class and Willy’s new parents made all the arrangements. So… many of the boys benefitted from their generosity.

Nico moved back to the Netherlands a few months ago to pursue her career in the IT field. She is happy to be in her home country but of course she misses the boys at the hogar. I know she misses some of the mild temperatures of Guatemala as well.

During her November visit, Nico was able to attend the first communion for the boys. The boys were happy to see her and Nico can see all the positive changes that have been made at the orphanage in the past few months. Nico has given me updates on the boys and other things going on at the hogar. She is a valuable resource and I rely on her quite a bit.

She is now back in the Netherlands and is, no doubt, trying to figure out when she can make another trip to Guatemala. It’s a long, grueling trip for her to make. We’re glad she came back to check in on the boys and we’re happy that she made it back home with no mishaps.

Home is where the heart is and like me, Nico has two homes. We both consider Guatemala to be our second country and our second home. We are lucky we found the hogar and can continue to be involved.

Diane

Hello faithful readers and supporters!

It’s time to send another box to the orphanage. And that’s just what we’re going to do. My job this weekend was to sort items, put together the shipping box, count the items, arrange them in the box, remove them, try again, squeeze one more thing in, write out the manifest, etc. Packing the box was a success.

It’s amazing how much one of these shipping boxes will hold. And it was fun to sort through the items again and think about how excited the boys will be when the box arrives, when I open it and when I start giving them all the items that are in the box. A few donated items wouldn’t fit in the box this time but I’ll have room in my suitcase.

There are 16 blankets packed up in the box. You might remember that the pequenos and the medianos have received personal blankets in the past two shipments. This time the blankets are for the grandes. They are banded together with ribbons and each blanket has a Beanie Baby attached to it. They’re gonna love em!

Backpacks! Boy do we have backpacks. All the backpacks are new and they came from three sources. How many did we end up with? 68! 68 backpacks and that means that I can give backpacks to a few of the village kids. We also give school supplies to a number of children in the local village.

Fire Department Hats! Yep, I have 48 plastic fire department hats. In early January, I’ll ask the boys to draw pictures and write about their experiences at the fire station in August. After they turn in their papers, they can have a hat. And I bet we’ll have quite a few boys playing fireman that day.

Monster Trucks! I received a donation of 47 Monster Trucks and they all fit in the shipping box. I will be getting some more Hot Wheels cars and the boys will have a choice of one monster truck or two Hot Wheels. They took up quite a bit of room but I know the boys will really be pleased with these trucks.

Granola Bars – Yes, I got 80 chocolate chip granola bars in the box. If I have room in my suitcase, I’ll take more.

YMCA shirts – I have 58 YMCA shirts and 3 CASA shirts. So, everyone will get a new shirt.

Party Decorations-We’ll find a use for them.

Glue Sticks – I have about 50 glue sticks packed away…. along with 17 dozen Papermate pens, 11 dozen pencils and 12 dozen additional pens. There are other school supplies, magnetic letters, flash cards, books, washable markers, colored pencils, sharpie pens, etc.

There are a dozen brush and comb sets, wrist bands, balls, peanut butter, raisins, pancake mix, other donated clothes, bags, and more. I just can’t remember it all. But it’s full and once I tape it up, it’s ready to go.

So… thanks to all our donors, we filled up another box and the boys will benefit.

Happy Thanksgiving to all!
We have a lot to be thankful for.

Diane

OK… it’s not going to be a tea party… it’s going to be a work party. And yes, Steve and his group are from Boston. Maybe they’ll have some tea with Brian after work is finished each day. They’ll be staying at the orphanage for 3 nights and working during the day. I’m sure they’ll find time for a cup of tea.

I have confirmed with Steve B. that he and his other 3 fellow travelers have received donations of $1,000 to pay for the fence replacement project at the orphanage. Steve, his sister Kristen, his friend Roger and Roger (Roger’s son) will be at the hogar very soon. They’ll be building picket fences and their $ should pay for the materials and supplies. We are so thankful that Steve and his friends decided to work at the orphanage and undertake this task. The fences needed to be done, I was contacted by Steve and it all fell into place. Steve said it wasn’t hard to raise the $1000 at all. He said he got donations of $1000 in about 5 minutes. Now that’s what we like to hear.

Thanks in advance to our 4 Boston Tea Party workers. I’m looking forward to seeing the new fences in late December.

Diane

Blankets for their beds. Yep ! That’s what it says and that’s what I received yesterday. Jo Ann drove here yesterday and she delivered blankets for the grandes beds. You might remember that I have taken blankets to the pequenos (April/May 2007), blankets for the medianos (August 2007) and now I’ve got blankets to pack up and take for the older boys, the grandes. These blankets are tied with colorful ribbons and there’s a new Beanie Baby with each blanket. The blankets are embellished and hand crocheted as gifts for orphans in Guatemala. And the boys do love to have blankets of their own. What a great thing to do for the boys!

In the three boxes that I received, I found a few other Beanie Babies along with a few dozen pens, some books in Spanish and glue sticks.

So, thanks to Jo Ann and the ladies that make these blankets, we have some wonderful gifts for the boys …. again.

The blankets are great! And I’m happy to ship them and give them to the boys.

Till next time.

Diane

Hi Everyone,

I got a nice e-mail from Jennifer today. Jennifer and her family are big supporters of the orphanage. In fact, Jennifer’s children were adopted from Guatemala. In April 2007, her in-laws adopted Willy from Hogar Miguel Magone. Willy and his new family live in Pennsylvania. His English language skills and vocablary have really improved. Willy now attends a high school in his new hometown. This is truly a wonderful, generous, big hearted family. They are touching so many lives with their actions and their love.

Jennifer and her husband George are returning to Guatemala (on the first weekend in December) to help with some humanitarian aid efforts at Hogar Miguel Magone and other places. Jennifer & George are in the process of collecting money to purchase a gift for Christmas morning for all of the boys. They are also helping with some gift bags at the Chuck E Cheese party hosted by Celebrate Children International. Jennifer has been travelling to Guatemala for about 4 years and she loves to be at the hogar with the boys.

Jennifer, we are so thankful for your dedication and involvement. We wish there were more people like you.

Thanks for being you.

Hugs and kisses,

Diane

According to Wikipedia, Heinz 57 is a shortened, popular form of the “57 Varieties” slogan of Pittsburgh’s H. J. Heinz Company. In its early days, the company wanted to advertise the number of choices of foods it offered for sale. Although the company had more than 60 products in 1892, the number 57 was chosen because the numbers “5″ and “7″ held special significance to Heinz.

Why am I mentioning Heinz 57? Well… with my strange thought patterns, it sort of does relate to the orphanage. And that is because we now have 57 boys. Hello! How did that happen? Boys are just streaming in. Heinz 57…….a variety of different products, a variety of choices. With 57 boys, we certainly do have 57 different products (boys) along with their 57 sets of needs, their 57 individual personalities, their 57 moods, their 57 stories and their 57 bodies and minds that need attention and love. In August, the number of boys dropped down to about 35 at one point. Now it’s climbing every day.

Most of these boys arrived with just a handful of possessions….some with just the clothes on their backs. We have to find suitable clothing for them…socks and underwear, shirts, shoes, pants, sleeping attire, etc. And it has to fit. When a decision is made to place a particular boy in an orphanage, the process of upheaval begins. It’s usually difficult to adjust when you are taken off the streets or removed from your home. The boys arrive at Hogar Miguel Magone, a large, unfamiliar place with lots of other boys in similar circumstances. The boys have many names to learn, many rules to follow. They start sleeping in a dorm room with many other boys, they have to learn the personalities of the other boys, learn the pecking order, establish their place in the order of things, etc. They get lonely and sad. These boys have to find their way again and again.

The way I look at it, there are 57 boys to provide for and love. Providing for and loving boys….. that’s what we’re doing.

Just call me the Heinz 57 girl this week.

Diane

Oh Happy Days! We are having a good time collecting goodies for the upcoming December/January trip.

Yesterday was an especially good day. It started with a donation of 14 dozen blue Papermate pens for the boys. That’s 3 pens for each boy. A woman at my gym came up to me at around 7:30 AM and handed me 14 boxes of pens. She said she was out shopping, saw the pens and thought of the boys. Thanks Mary ! You started out my day on a high note.

Around 8:30 AM I drove to Sonoma… the fabulous wine country. And it was beautiful. The leaves on the grape vines are turning into the beautiful fall colors of rust, gold and red. The rolling hills were all around me and it was a very pleasant drive. Plus, I had a good destination in mind. CASA of Sonoma County donated 12 new backpacks for the boys and also for the girls (that we are helping) who live in the local village of El Aguacate. The backpacks have stuffed animals in them along with brushes, combs, toiletry items and more. I also received some luggage/overnight type duffle bags. These are full of stuffed animals. Thanks Millie. When I add up all the backpacks that I have for this trip, the total comes to 68.

I finally made it back to the office, did some work and headed out again. My destination this time was the Hilltop YMCA. More things were donated by two local YMCAs….. again. I picked up two sets of colorful YMCA camp shirts. One stack is bright green (the peques love the green ones) and the other stack of shirts is red. The kids love these colorful shirts. The YMCA gave me a large bag of colorful elastic bands. I thought they were wrist bands but they’re actually elastic hair bands for ponytails. Well, you know what? The kids wrists are pretty small so we’re going to give them out as wrist bands. The boys like wearing wrist bands. The YMCA had given me other plastic wrist bands on a previous trip. Those were a big hit. These will be too. In the box of donated items, I also found other clothes. It was definitely worth the trip. Thanks Candy! Thanks RJ.

After a few more errands, I ended up back at the office. There’s more ! UPS had delivered a big box while I was out and about. I knew what was in the box as I had received a phone call a few days earlier and the caller told me what she was sending me to give to the boys. Of course I didn’t know what they would look like until I opened the box. This box was full of Monster Trucks. Oh… these are going to be a big hit. There are 47 Action Muscle Machine, Fantastic 4 Monster Trucks in the box. I had fun looking at their web site. It’s www.MuscleMachines.com in case you want to take a peek. These trucks are collectibles but I know the boys will be playing with these immediately upon receiving them. The donor is someone I met when I was in Mexico in mid-October. Fran, the donor, is from Machesney Park, Ill. Fran, thank you so much. You’re great to do this for the boys.

So… all in all… yesterday was a high energy, fun day. All these items for the boys will be going into the big box that gets shipped on November 30. And there’s more to come. Some hand crocheted blankets are being dropped off at the office on Tuesday. Oh my! The shipping box will be full. Some of the other items are going to fill up my big suitcase. What a time we will have with the boys on this next trip!

Thanks everyone and thanks for reading about the boys and what we’re doing.

Diane

OK…. I’m getting questions about what the boys need so here’s the answer.

The needs of the boys are great. They play on concrete most of the time and wear out their shoes very quickly. They always need shirts, jeans, socks, underwear, etc. Orphan’s Hope Project ships items to the orphanage but limits these items to only new things. These boys are perceived as throwaway kids and they deserve new clothes, socks, etc. They need shoes about every 3 months and in January, the need is even greater as they start back to school after a 3 month vacation. The boys need uniform shoes for school as well as tennis shoes for running and playing. The boys often sort through the used, donated shoes in hopes of finding shoes that fit. Orphan’s Hope Project is committed to buying new shoes for all the boys in January and they could use your help.

Now that the holidays are here, it is our hope that you find it in your hearts to help the boys at the orphanage. The Christmas/New Year trip is an important one as it is a lonely and is an upsetting time for the boys.

We need so many things for the boys and right now, we need socks and shoes. Please consider donating some new, child sized socks and/or $ for shoes. Socks are easy for us to ship. Socks can be mailed or dropped off at Coldwell Banker Bartels Realtors at 3088 Pinole Valley Road Pinole, CA. 94564. Attn: Diane. And we need $ to buy all the boys their two pairs of shoes. The average cost for the two pairs of shoes is $45 a boy. We always look for back to school sales and we will purchase the shoes in Guatemala. We need to size them for each boy’s feet and shoes are too expensive to ship to Guatemala. A tax deductible donation is easiest and your check can be mailed or dropped off at Coldwell Banker Bartels as well. All checks should be made payable to Orphan’s Hope Project. Donations can be made through Pay Pal by going to the web site www.OrphansHopeProject.com. 100% of your donation will be used for the boys and their needs.

We hope you will consider buying shoes for a boy and/or donating new socks. We truly have so much to be thankful for and these boys have so little. Won’t you please consider helping those who need your help?

Thank you for your spirit of giving. Thank you for caring. And thanks from all the boys at Hogar Miguel Magone orphanage. Please have a wonderful holiday season knowing that you helped brighten the lives of these boys.

And, don’t forget, Orphan’s Hope Project T-shirts and hand made Guatemalan bracelets are available through the web site. Send us an e-mail if you have any questions…. OrphansHope@aol.com. We promise to get back to you.