Holiday Preparations

We are busy at the Club preparing for the Christmas party that will be held this Sunday for all of our children. We have a lot of volunteers coming to help out this Christmas, and the first of them arrived this week; Melissa Bazely (Dove's Volunteer Coordinator) and her Mom, Gail! So with their help, and two of the Mothers in the Club, we spread out little pieces of paper with the kids' names all across the Club to sort gifts for their Christmas baskets. Gifts were distributed according to age, gender, and size. Each child will be getting a basket full of toys, clothes, shoes, school supplies, and much more. One of the Mothers commented that this will be the best Christmas ever for her kids! The Christmas party is being held this Sunday, so you still have time to donate! We are going to need about $1000 total for everything. Thank you to everyone who has donated already, and to everyone who donated supplies to fill the baskets!

Laptops Needed

Last week we had many friends at the Center. Each arrived with their own cameras to capture their experience as a volunteer. We couldn't help but notice the immediate infatuation the older boys had with these cameras. They were allowed to borrow the cameras and our volunteers asked them to take photos of their fellow Dove members, like this picture of Camili. The older boys and girls are natural photographers, and it made us think about pushing up the date of our photography class to the beginning of the new year. We have sufficient donated cameras but the only thing holding us back now are computers. We don't have any that would allow the children to edit, and enjoy the photos they will take in the class. We are asking anyone who may have friends with old laptops to think about donating them to Dove.

Cameras and Computers

One of the easiest ways to 'break the ice' with the kids, being a volunteer not knowing Spanish, is to pull out your camera. They will go crazy! The kids LOVE cameras; they love taking pictures of themselves, of their friends, of their families, and they love seeing photos of themselves. It is the same with computers. Although they don't have many (if any) opportunities to use a computer, when we do pull out our computers to show them videos of themselves or to play music, they all crowd around.

This said, we want to start a photography class and a computer class at Dove. Knowledge of using a computer would be a huge asset in their futures, and would help them to get good jobs. The photography class could open up a huge new world for them in terms of the arts. It would not only give them a way to record and spread the word about the conditions they are living in, it would also give them something to be proud of and something to work hard for. It would be a great learning experience, and it would also be fun.

I know that a lot of people upgrade their cameras often and have their old ones just lying around the house, unused. It is the same with laptops. Items we would need in order to start these 2 classes are: digital cameras, laptops, a printer, photo paper, and camera memory cards. If you have any of these items that you would be willing to donate, please let us know and we will arrange the best way to get it from you. You can comment on the blog or send Liz an email at dovemissions@msn.com Thank you!