The Blog of Casa De Sara

Thank you to everyone who has donated to our school food program. It has made a huge difference in the wellbeing of the children in our school.

Since we decided to extend our school day, it became necessary to serve lunch in addition to the existing breakfast and snack. Asking the students to pack their own lunch wasn’t an option since most of them live in severe poverty. Most Bolivian schools don’t have to worry about serving lunch because their school day ends before noon. Our schedule mirrors that of a typical school in the U.S., so feeding the kids is a must.

Most of our students eat very little, if at all, when they are not in our school, so the extra meal is more than a little nourishment to get through the school day…for many, it provides the nutrients they need to get through the entire day. A typical school lunch includes beef or poultry, vegetables, rice, plantains, and more. It’s a large and well-balanced meal. Breakfast consists of empanadas, cereals, or other traditional Bolivian recipes. And, snacks include yogurt, fruit salad and breads.

All of this is possible because of your kindness, compassion, and generosity! But, we are still short of the funds needed to provide our kids with all the meals they need this year.

Thank you again – not just for helping with our food program, but also for helping with everything! We have steadily grown and increased our programs over the past eight years, which means we have steadily increased our need for more funding. We can do it only if you continue to help! On behalf of all the kids we all serve in Bolivia…Gracias!!

More help needed to achieve 2008 goals!

Bolivia has seen more than its usual share of problems during the past two years. Politically, it’s very unstable. Economically, it remains severely impoverished. And, as if that weren’t enough, sustained bad weather has led to massive flooding, which has decimated cattle and crops and caused widespread illness and loss of human life. Yet, as always, Casa de Sara is weathering the storms and working hard to provide education, healthcare, and jobs to those who depend on us. This year we ask for more help from you in order to achieve our goals.

The 2008 school year began in February, and this year we are expanding our programs and our school day. In the past, our kids have attended school from 7:30-12:30, which is typical in Bolivia. We packed a lot into that short timeframe and gave the kids a very well rounded curriculum, including breakfast and a snack. But, this year we are transitioning to a longer school day, which more closely resembles our school system in the USA.

Providing lunch for the kids has been the central issue preventing us from extending the schedule. Lunch would be an easy addition in a school where kids could pack it for themselves or bring lunch money, but that’s not the case for our kids. Because their parents cannot afford to pay for lunch, we have to figure out a way to provide it for them. This requires more kitchen space, more staff, and, most importantly, more funding to feed our 52 hungry students. We have already acquired the extra kitchen space and hired a new cook, and now we are asking you to help support this effort. The cost of extending the school day breaks down like this:

Breakfast, lunch, and snack is $1.31 per child per day (for a total of $68.12 per day)

$340.60 per week

$1,362.40 per month

$13,624.00 per year

While $1.31 is very reasonable for breakfast, lunch, and a snack, it adds up quickly over the school year. The additional (Bolivian) staff and associated costs of administering the lunch program will add another $6000.00, which brings the deficit to a total of $19,624.00. We will spend $62,000.00+ this year on all of our education programs. We also plan to allocate a significant portion of our donations toward the future building (or renovation) of a larger school. Because of the serious political instability of Bolivia at the moment, we have elected to delay our school building plans, but we must continue to work toward this financial goal so we are ready when the time comes.

Because we are now offering lunch to the kids, we can expand the school day to 7:30-3:30. We have added geography, art, more music, and soccer to our curriculum. Our summer school program was also a huge success. Over 150 kids, ages 5-15, attended our English, art, and soccer classes. Each year, summer school grows more popular with the local community, and we are happy, with your help, to provide this needed and worthwhile service.

Casa de Sara’s Escualita has grown tremendously in popularity. Although we are still small compared to some organizations, the service we are providing for these kids and their families is huge, and that’s what matters most. With 52 kids in school this year (and over 150 on a waiting list), there is a pressing need for Casa de Sara to continue to expand its services. But each small step takes a lot of funding…even in Bolivia. We ask for your continued support! We have come a long way with your help, and I can assure you that every dime has been spent to better the lives of the children we serve. We need your help to continue to support our efforts as we offer more to the children who depend on all of us.

Thank you for helping!

Lori Santoro

Founder/CEO (Volunteer)

I like Andrea Truan’s (our Board VP) latest post. Maybe she only made 4.00 gift wrapping, but she got the word out about our cause even if just a little. And, it wasn’t all bad. Yes, the 4.00 will feed a child in our school, in fact it will feed more than one. But the bigger news is that Barnes and Noble also held a book drive for us. They raised almost 70 books for our school in Bolivia. Now we have a great addition to our library. Sometimes you start out with one goal…like to raise money through gift wrapping and you end up with much more. 70 books and a great new relationship between Casa de Sara and Barnes and Noble.

~Lori Santoro Founder/ CEO (Volunteer)

Hello All, I went to wrap gifts for Casa de Sara this weekend at Barnes & Nobles. I made $4 for us! Adn it only took 4 hours. Actually, it was kind of relaxing to just sit. And $4 is $4. That will at least feed one of our kids for a day.

We are gearing up for our 5 for $500 drive. I will be designing the postcards today and hope to get those in the mail the first week of January. I think it will be a great event and I look forward to seeing the response.

Have a great holiday season!

Summer school has started at our Casa de Sara esculeita in Bolivia. We have about 80 students attending this year. Summer school has always been very popular at our school and its a great opportunity for the kids (ages 4-17) to be involved and learn while having fun. Soccer, art, and English are offered this year. Our soccer instructors always come from the Tahuichi Way International Youth Soccer Camp. This is a internationally known camp where children from all over the world attend. However, the children we teach at our school would never have the opportunity to go to a camp like Tahuichi. Through our program, we provide students a wonderful opportunity to have the best training possible! English has always been our most popular summer school class, especially among the older kids. Adeliada Salamanca, who teaches for us each year, is a professor of English and French. She has many years experience teaching both languages and the kids love her! This year art is being taught by one of our kindergarten school teachers. The kids will get a chance to work in many mediums and explore their natural talents! Its going to be a great summer for our kids and staff!
~Lori Santoro, Founder/CEO (volunteer)

Hi Everyone:
Casa de Sara reaches out to help kids get an education and a future. We talk a lot about our “Escuelita (Little School)” in Bolivia, but we also have other programs that are just as important. Health care education, Sarita program, and scholarships are some of the other programs that we offer. I’d like to share a story with you about a special young man who is now living his dream to go to college through Casa de Sara’s scholarship program.
Johnny is a young man with a long and complicated history. After being abandoned, he grew up in orphanages for most of his life. He lived through some very difficult times and suffered many abuses along the way.
I met Johnny seven years ago before Casa de Sara was established. At the time, he was living in horrible conditions in an overcrowded orphanage. Through the years, I have kept in contact with him as he has moved from one orphanage to the next. It would be unusual for anyone to grow up with these hardships and come out unscathed. Although Johnny struggles with some emotional issues, he has a tremendous amount of drive and ambition. He is a survivor.
This year Johnny became the recipient of a full college scholarship thanks to a US solider who began donating to Casa de Sara while he was serving our country in Afghanistan. With the help of the soldier’s kind donation to Casa de Sara’s scholarship fund, Johnny now has a chance at making his future a lot more positive than his past.
Johnny started school in August, and there have been many challenging moments in preparing him for his new college life. We had to arrange a surgery for broken facial bones after he was attacked in the street. Since there are no dormitories at the university, we have had to secure a place for him to live. We are taking care of his medical and nutritional needs, and Oscar, our program manager in Bolivia, has pretty much become a surrogate father for the many daily issues that come up. We are committed to giving him all the support possible for him to succeed.
This is just one of the many examples of how your donations help to change lives!
Check out our website at casadesara.org to learn more about all of our programs!

~Lori Santoro
Founder and CEO (Volunteer)

Hi Friends,

Well I have to admit I’m not your typical optimist. I can’t recall anyone ever accusing me of being too positive. I try to stay informed about what’s going on in the world but often when I watch the news, read the newspaper or get online for the “latest” I find myself feeling overwhelmed with what I have heard or read. I’d  be willing to bet that  many  of  you  have  the  same  reaction  to  the  news. So I’m learning as I get older that its important for me to focus on what I can control. Something that helps me cope is to remember my favorite word: HOPE.  Imagine for a moment what it would be like if a doctor diagnosed you or someone you love with cancer but offered no treatment options. You’d probably be angry and distraught and it could easily cause you to lose all hope. What if you lived in the midst of war with no options for peace? What if you dreamed of learning and had no chance at education? The scenarios for hopelessness are almost endless but in most of those instances you can always look at a small child’s face and see a miracle. It’s magical how children are so full of hope. I love the word hope. I see it as a word with a mission statement. If you can find hope in a difficult situation you can see the options–and suddenly you have a plan. That’s the main reason Casa de Sara exist. We want to offer love and hope to children in spite of circumstances that say there is no reason for hope. We can’t save the whole world. No one individual can. But we can join together and make changes where we have the opportunity to do so. At the end of the journey even if we only offered life changing HOPE to one child it would all have been worth it.

Gracias

Dan Frye

Hi friends,

I just wanted to remind all federal employees that you can donate to Casa de Sara thru the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC). We do business under the name of the Hispanic Children’s Education Fund through the CFC. We are listed under that name as it clarifies our mission statement clearly and makes it easier for federal employees to know what our charity is about. If you are a federal employee you can elect to give a donation thru payroll deduction. Donations from the CFC have been generous and life changing for our children in Bolivia. Many thanks to those who donate thru the CFC and we welcome potential donors to learn more about our program by going to Casa de Sara’s website.

Gracias,
Dan Frye, President of Board of Directors
Casa de Sara

Happy Halloween Everyone!
Casa de Sara is starting a new fundraising goal that we call “500 for 5″. We are asking 500 people to raise five dollars, fifty dollars or five-hundred dollars and so on. Kids can get involved too by raising five of anything. Five quarters, five nickles, five dollars, five hundred pennies, even five hundred dollars or more. Since this is the 5th year of our school, (8th year of the organization) we chose “5″ to celebrate. You may be thinking that five dollars is easy to raise…and it is. Most people could easliy spend that on fast food, a couple sodas or bottled water. Maybe its even someone’s allowance. But, for Casa de Sara five dollars goes a long way in Bolivia to help support our programs. This is a great fundraiser for schools, church youth groups, and other organizations. When we work with kids on a fundraising project we give them the chance to decide how the money should be spent. We provide a list of needs or projects and the kids can decide how to best use their donations. Kids love that they can make the decisions that can help change other kids lives. It connects them to how far money will go in a third world country and gives them a chance to see their donations work according to their plan. So, we are asking church groups, schools, clubs and even neighborhoods to get involved with us in this fundraising effort. And of course, we don’t underestimate the power of the individual! We need your support and this is a great way to get involved with Casa de Sara!

Hi blog readers,

I thought it might be good to share with all of you why I volunteer in hopes that maybe it will help someone who is considering giving their time for charitable causes some encouragement.

My volunteer experience started in 1990 shortly after my father’s death. Like most people, I didn’t really think I had a lot of time to offer anyone else. I had just been laid off from my job as an art director for an advertising agency at the beginning of 1990. Since I was recruited from college before graduation to work on a special project for TVA I still had three classes to finish to receive my degree. I made the decision to return to college in hopes of doing just that. However, three weeks into the semester tragedy struck my family when my father was murdered at his grocery store in south Knoxville.

It’s not really possible to describe how you feel when someone you love is murdered. It’s probably one of the worst fears that we all consider. Those of you who have suffered a loss know the body has a way of just shutting everything down. Shock sets in and you just find yourself going through the motions of life but you don’t really feel like you are living at all. Since my father’s death was due to violence my family and I were overwhelmed by reporters and a police investigation. It’s been almost 18 years since the day he was killed and looking back I can only say it was the grace of God that kept me going.

My father’s death was unsolved for over six years. During that time I became active in volunteering for a victims rights organization I helped found. The organization met bi-weekly to conduct committee meetings on legislation, court-watches, research and victim support. I attended meetings with other families and individuals who had lost loved ones to homicide. I met many women who were rape vicitims. And I began to collect a large file of stories of tragedy after tragedy. It was difficult for me emotionally as we were still trying to find the individual(s) responsible for killing my father. I kept volunteering for several years and there were victories that we celebrated but they were very often “hollow” celebrations. It’s hard to find joy in keeping a killer in prison–free from parole–even though you know it’s the right thing to do. It doesn’t bring the loved one back for the family that lost them. And on the flip side, very often there is a loving family who’s son or daughter is in prison for commiting an unspeakable crime. But keeping the criminal behind bars is the only safe alternative for our society.

As the years continued to pass my zeal and energy to continue this work began to fade. It was good work and I was proud of what I was doing but my father’s unsolved crime was taking too big of an emotional toll on me. I decided to step away from my victims advocacy work. Shortly thereafter, on the fifth anniversary of my father’s death I reluctantly agreed to do another tv interview in hopes that someone would come forward with information. I had made a personal decision that it was time for me to back away from our own case and try to live my life with hope again. The day after that last interview with the press, a stranger knocked on my mother’s door. He had breaking information on our case which was turned over to the investigators. One year later two individuals were arrested for the murder of my father. Both men had been only seventeen years old when they shot my dad so we had to go through a lengthy trial that started in the juvenile courts and was transferred to the adult system. After three years, one young man was sentenced to 25 years to life for my dad’s murder. The other was freed on time served as the grand jury could only find enough evidence to charge him with “accessory after the fact”.

So it was finished. Nine years of my life were focused on this tragedy. Almost a decade of time where I had lost my dreams and hopes. But the good news is I believe God restored–and is continuing to restore–the lost time and dreams from those days. As I began to heal the desire to volunteer returned.

Having known Lori Santoro and her husband Craig Miller since college it only made sense to partner in Lori’s dream to help children. Craig and Lori had been my mainstay of sanity throughout the journey of my father’s death and trial. I started volunteering by designing the monthly newsletter for Casa de Sara. Initially I wasn’t emotionally connected to the children but that changed very quickly. As I heard about their struggles from Lori and their needs for education and healthcare I became willing to give more time to their cause.

I believe every child has a destiny of hope and a future for greatness. But that destiny cannot be met without help. They are little and so vulnerable. It is my responsibility to every child, to do what I can to make a difference for good. They are all an investment in our future. It doesn’t matter what country that child lives in. Children are all too often the victims of adults politics and wars. EVERY CHILD deserves an education and healthcare.

I hope you will partner with Casa de Sara. We are still a small organization that is run completely through volunteer efforts. Our only paid staff is the Bolivian employees of our school. Please consider a financial contribution to us. It will not go unnoticed.

If you are considering volunteering with an organization I encourage you to do so. Find a cause you are passionate about and give your time and money to it. It will make a difference for those on the receiving end of your gifts. But you will find a tremendous personal blessing that can be powerful and unexpected. Seeing lives change for the better and sharing your love is the most wonderful blessing you can have.

Gracias,
Dan Frye
President, Executive Board of Directors
Casa de Sara.