Energizing Education, Feb. 24th from 3-8, was an amazing afternoon of fun consisting of games, contests, prizes, music, pizza & ice cream designed for middle school children. This fund raising event a the Outback in New Canaan, CT. was created by 25 local KHK teens to help send underprivileged children in Nicaragua to school. Kids from all the local schools joined the fun.
Our goal was to raise awareness and money to send kids to school in a small town in Nicaragua. It only takes $100 to educate a child per year. This includes the cost of uniforms, shoes, books and tuition. Every August, members of Kids Helping Kids travelled to Nagarote to meet these children. It was an amazing experience for the kids to see the impact of their efforts. Some children were attending school for the first time, at age 10, as a result of our donations. Education in Nicaragua is a luxury that many kids simply do not get to experience; 100% of the proceeds from this event will go to educating these children.
Tickets were $15 in advance and $20 at the door; all-inclusive. If you could not attend, please consider showing your support by making a donation.
WHY NICARAGUA? All of our projects are youth inspired, designed and led. Ali Ambrosecchio and her sister, Nicole, returned from visiting their mother’s native country, Nicaragua, with the desire to help the children in a nearby local village. They wanted to go back and do something that would help the kids in this beautiful country. In the summer of 2010, Lexi Kelley, Nicole and Ali along with their mothers planned a trip to Nicaragua to assist at a local orphanage, Norwalk- Nagarote Sister School Project and NicaPhoto. They brought and delivered over 750 pounds of clothing and sneakers. They spent a full day with the children at NicaPhoto, many of which were their own age, and this was the beginning of our bond with them. They got to learn about each other through numerous activities: weaving intricate bracelets to sell, picking out clothes and shoes that they could use, looking at the photography work the NicaPhoto students had produced, eating meals together and playing a fun, laughter-filled soccer game together. They left knowing that they wanted to do more to give these children the opportunity to continue their education. They decided the NicaPhoto project was the one they wanted to partner with to outfit the children with needed footwear and clothing, toothbrushes, money to go to school and the knowledge that there were a team of kids across the world that were thinking of them. We returned again this past August and have designed a week long service trip every August. Want more information about joining us on this trip?
SPONSORSHIP TO DATE funded by the Helping Hats program
Profile: Maria (11), David (11) and Jason (8)
Maria Luisa is 11 years old and the ninth of 10 children. The majority of her older siblings have not completed elementary school and the family lives day to day not knowing where their next meal will come from. Maria’s mother has been very ill for the last few years and therefore unable to work. The family relies on her older brothers and sisters for whatever financial support they can give, however they are often unemployed as their opportunities are limited due to their lack of education.
Jason and David are Maria’s nephews and live with her family. Their parent’s left them with their grandmother many years ago. We came to know the boys in 2010 when they showed up at the soccer field to practice with the Kids Helping Kids visitors from CT. At that time they were not attending school as their grandmother could hardly feed them, let alone buy them notebooks and pencils.
With the support of Kids Helping Kids, Jason, David and Maria are all attending a private elementary school and having great success. Because of their high GPAs, in September 2011 Jason and Maria were selected to march carrying the Nicaraguan Flag, a great honor!
The cost to send a child to school for an entire year is $100 per student. This provides them with one uniform, shoes and text books and supplies. Many families do not have this disposable income and therefore,thousands and thousands of children never get an educaton. During the winter of 2010, a number of KHK members started knitting hats and the project, Helping Hats was started. These toasty warm hats are knit and then sold for $20 each. Once five were sold, KHK was then able to sponsor the educaiton of a child. To date, we have 3 children who we have sent to school. This year, the youth have partnered with Sunrise Assisted Living to make hats together. At one of our recent events, we just raised another $500 so we are going to be sending 5 more kids to school.
OTHER NEEDS ARE
DENTAL HYGIENE:
The need for dental hygiene is high. Many of these children have never owned a toothbrush and they certainly do not have regular checkups. The relative low cost of toothbrushes and paste easily allows us to provide them. A few youths called their local dentists and requested some donations. They were eager to help. On our 2011 summer trip, we brought over 200 brushes and paste with us. The supplies stay at the project and the children brush after their afternoon meal. NicaPhoto hopes to have enough to send one home with each student as well.
SOCCER NEEDS:
One last area that became apparent is the need for soccer cleats and soccer balls. The only form of exercise that is accessible for children is soccer. Their soccer fields are normally consist of dirt, weeds and scrub. Many of the kids play in bare feet as they have no footwear. The balls that we are accustomed to using get holes in them almost immediately due to the rough terrain. We are collected used cleats and any soccer balls that you are able to give us.
