Hello Friends,

Happy Fall!!

I can’t believe it is the end of September…2014…time is certainly flying by…

But I can’t say that it hasn’t been a very rich and full time! For those I haven’t spoken to recently, I’ll just say that it’s been a year of getting grounded after my time in Peru with Casa de Milagros – which as you can imagine has been a pretty major transition. I also relocated from 15 years in the San Francisco Bay Area and I’m back in the beautiful Santa Ynez Valley in California where I grew up; near family, horses, and lots of amazing wine :)

I am happy to share that life and business are doing very well. I haven’t had much bandwidth to reach out to many of my old friends or write much on this blog – but that will be changing soon!

The Casa has also gone through much transition, but is thankfully on stable ground, at least for the time being. There are new directors, and a surge of new financial support and resources that have come forward in recent months. I have not been directly involved in the past year, but will continue to support in whatever way I can. I have been in touch with the US Board and new directors, and will be announcing a very cool fundraising initiative sometime in the next couple of months. I will also be involved with a few other projects in Peru that I am helping with marketing and fundraising support. Stay tuned for more info on all fronts!

Tierra De Niños

I’ve been recently asked to help a much smaller but equally wonderful project that is near and dear to my heart – Tierra de Niños. TiNi is part of a larger international initiative called ANIA, that empowers children with environmental skills and knowledge, and is located throughout Peru, and globally. The Tierra De Niños projects are dedicated to educating children and their communities about eco-consciousness, yet ends up being so much more involved and impactful. ANIA provides the training, and framework for leaders to implement their programs in either a school, orphanage, or community setting – such as revitalizing community parks in very underprivileged communities, after school programs teaching kids organic farming, and much more. (See Below for more Info!)

This particular project is in a small rural town outside of Cusco called Rakchi, and is run by a good friend of mine from Lima named Magali Pestaña. Magali was one of the tutors at Casa de Milagros that I hired to run art and various experiential learning workshops with the kids. She’s truly amazing, and super dedicated to social work with children in Peru. She’s been running the Tierra de Ninos project there for over 3 years – and until now, has done all of the fundraising, and logistics on her own, with very limited resources. This year, she has been able to get a couple of more consistent donors, and finally has a bit of stability to be able to run the program through the end of the year. However, the funds cover the basic program needs, such as staffing, supplies, and administrative costs.

Some Projects Magali Runs Include:

  • Greenhouse Maintenance, Gardening & Permaculture
  • Art Classes & Workshops
  • Theater & Oral Storytelling
  • Care of Self & Environment
  • Photography Classes & Workshops
  • Self Awareness through Art & Self Expression
  • Recycled Plastic & Crafts Workshops
  • Cooking Classes
  • Much more!

Magali reached out to me to see if I could help her raise about $750 to cover transportation costs for her and her co-teacher, who have to get to and from the project from Cusco city 4-5 days a week, and are currently doing so out of their own pocket. I would love to help her as much as I can – and my first step was reaching out to my nearest and dearest to see if you felt moved to support in any way – or if you could please forward this info on to any one you think might be interested.

My goal is to get 30 people to donate $25 – but any amount helps!

I have included below a few things to give you more information and details about the project – but if you would like to learn more and have any additional questions, I’d be happy to answer them for you – please Contact Me.

More Info:

DONATING:

I will be collecting funds and wiring a check for whatever I am able to raise by October 5th in one lump sum via a Western Union transfer. Please note that because this is a Peruvian NGO, and not an established US 501c3, you are not able to declare this as a tax deductible donation here in the US (if you are in Peru, Magali will mail you a receipt). Just know that you are supporting a very worthy, grass-roots project, that unfortunately does not have the funds for much marketing, fundraising, or administration – but is doing amazing work!

To donate, you may send a check for any amount, payable to me, to my address:

PO Box 485
Santa Ynez, CA 93460

or you can pay via PayPal:




THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH!!

Stay tuned for lots more posts very soon…

Big hugs,

~Claudia