In mid July, two containers of in-kind supplies were packed at our warehouse and shipped South.  The loads, which arrived in Guatemala several weeks ago and await approval in customs, contain everything from fabric to school supplies to computer monitors to work boots.  Notable donations include 600 towels from Lifetime Fitness, 200 Spanish-language books from Scholastic, technology equipment from Best Buy, and about 1,400 Beanie Babies from Laurie and Dan Bergeron and several Amery, WI area schools. 
 
A dozen volunteers helped to load the containers, each of which was packed in under two hours.  This was possible in large part because of the diligent organizing of several regular warehouse volunteers, who prepped all of the supplies for shipment.  Thanks are due as well to Karen Reichensperger of The MESSAGE Program, who trained our shipping staff and is facilitating the paperwork at the customs office in Guatemala City to get the containers processed quickly. 
 
A warm welcome to the newly promoted Guatemala Warehouse Manager, Cecilio Fuentes Cardona, previously a driver for Common Hope, who will be receiving the supplies when they arrive at the Family Development Center.  Thanks as well to long-term volunteer Lynn Miller for her years of work in the warehouse.

Many thanks to everyone who had a hand in this major in-kind effort!

A most original fundraiser
Marcus du Sautoy, Sponsor of student Jorge Carias, recently concocted a creative fundraiser that we could never have even dreamed of.  Marcus, a professor of mathematics at Wadham College, Oxford, has discovered a host of "symmetrical objects in hyperspace."  He writes that these shapes, while beyond the three dimensions we live in, end up explaining things like the behavior of viruses and crystals. 

And, Marcus explains that once discovered, the objects need names, just like stars in the atmosphere or craters on the moon.  So, for a donation of at least $10, Marcus has offered to name an object after a person of the donor's choosing.  To date, Marcus has raised $986 for Common Hope!  You can read more about Marcus's work in an article he wrote for the U.K.-based newspaper The Daily Telegraph, or on his fundraising page.