Things have certainly not slowed down at all since we returned to Canada. In fact, the pace seems to have increased and Direct Abundance is motivated more now than ever to help the children of Belize and assist the community of San Pedro. Since our return last week, we have started a few new projects.
While in San Pedro we dropped off a small amount of donations and visited the San Pedro Roman Catholic School. The principal took us on a tour and gave us a wish list of things that the school needs. Specifically, the library shelves are empty. We have been contacting Canadian authors, made contact with the local libraries, and are seeking donations of books to be shipped sometime during the late summer. We would like to see the book shelves of both Holy Cross and RC full and overflowing for young readers. The response has been very positive.
We have been in contact with Dr. Martell,of Nova Scotia, who has generously agreed to share his 40 foot container, and to locate a defibulators, to give to the Poly Clinic. We were shocked to learn that the island does not have one of these life saving devices, and since we returned home it seems to be our personal mission to acquire one or two. Green Solutions is ready to fill a container for us with “school in a box” and “doctor in a box”. These include items such as furnishings, materials and school supplies. This company donates the items to charitable organizations, and the charity is responsible for the shipping costs.
Which leads to our next project we are working on. Currently we are in contact with the Lion’s Club and Rotary Club to assist us in raising shipping money. Shipping from Canada is not cheap, but we are confident that the doors will open, and at exactly the right time, we will get what we need to get these much needed items down to the dock in San Pedro. We have contacted the airlines and the airline ambassadors program, to inquire about reduced baggage costs. We have found that shipping can be a real challenge as not many carriers go to Belize from Canada.
Cathy, our Child Care expert, is working on getting donations of safe, quality toys to help open the pre-school at Holy Cross in the fall. She has started a new facebook page, and you can find a list of the items she thinks would be most beneficial to a pre-school and to advance early child development.
Heather of course is busy as ever,networking, writing letter, designing the new power point slide show, which we will use in our presentations to the schools for the high school community service project. In Canada, a student is required to complete 40 hours of Community Services to graduate from highschool. Currently we are in the process of recruiting students here, to assist our organization and to raise funds to sponsor a student through high school in Belize.
The work never ends, but it feels like a hobby. There are times when the road seems long, but we are so determined that I have no doubt that everything will come together.
If you work at something you love, you will never work a day in your life.
