Aura's House November 2006 Newsletter

Dear Aura's House friends and supporters:

October was a busy month at Aura's House. So far we have raised $800 (as of October 31) for books, desks, and lab supplies for the slum children of the Galilee School in Kenya. We are off to a great start with this project and aim to continue raising funds for the over 4,000 students in attendance at the school. Without school supplies it will be extremely difficult for these children to continue getting even a standard education that will lift themselves and their families out of poverty. Knowledge is power! We could use the help of our donors and supporters in spreading the word about this project by emailing friends and family, posting in the Volunteers Section of Craigslist Sites, and on group message boards at Myspace, Livejournal, etc. Sample emails/postings you can use are here. Feel free to edit freely or make your own announcements.

In other news, we are gearing up again this year to have our second annual Holiday Sale. Visit our Online Shop and stock up early on Holiday Cards and Gifts. 25% of proceeds will go directly to the Kenya School Project. Stay tuned for new designs in the weeks ahead. The shop sells cards, t-shirts, hoodies, caps, magnets, journals, posters, buttons, and more. We are also affiliated with IGive.com. Here you can shop through their online mall at your favorite stores (Staples, Barnes and Noble, EBay,Travelocity, you name it..) and they will donate a portion of your purchases to our Kenya Project at Aura's House at no cost to you. 'Tis nearly the season of shopping like crazy for your loved ones. Why not help a good cause at the same time?

Also in October, Small Project #9 for Jesica Bajada in the Philippines is finally complete with $505 raised! Soon Jessica and her family will have: A bunk bed & bedding = $115, Table and chairs = $30, Water jug and dishes = $60, Clothing items = $80, Cabinet for clothes = $40, Kerosene stove and fan = $35, Books, school supplies = $50, Groceries, milk, vitamins = $90. Thank you to all our generous donors!

New photos this month include: Progress on the Philippines Classroom at the Santo Nino Elementary School in Manila. We also just received photos from complete Small Project #8 for Marie Cris and family in the Philippines. They received a supply of piglets to start up an income generating project for the family to help them get out of debt. Finally, just in from Zambia are photos from Small Project #7 for Innocent Chalwe Mwanza and family. Check out the links and read on below.

Thanks again to our supporters for making a 'World of Difference' through our Small Projects. We couldn't do it without you. Happy Autumn and stay warm. Ciao a Roma, Italia e a dopo!

Kristen Palana, Anastasia Yecke, Mike Epler, Christina Sidoti, and the Aura's House Team

Happy November from the team at Aura's House! New Pics From the Sto. Nino Elementary School in Manila, the Philippines.

Ceremony for the New Classroom at
Santo Nino Elementary School

Click here to see all the latest photos.

Plaque for
Santo Nino Elementary School

This is the plaque that Aura's House is giving to the Santo Nino Elementary School..

New Small Project #10 Launches for Emily of Guatemala and Juan Carlos of Mexico Our goal is to give Emily (6) of Guatemala and Juan Carlos (9) of Mexico items such as blocks, cement, and iron for home repairs as well as food and household items. They are both the sponsored children of Ellen Brown of New Zealand. Each family of Ellen's sponsored children would like to make their home more livable. Our goal is to raise $250 for each child's family. Click here to visit this project and to make a donation. Meet Emily: Emily Xiloj Portillo turned six in January. She lives with her parents - Eduardo and Brenda - and younger siblings, her brother Diego and sister Dulce in very poor conditions in Guatemala City. Emily has the gentle nature and sense of fun which is evident in her smile in her official Children International photograph. She loves to play with her dolls, sing, play hide-and-seek and go for walks with her Mom. Her favorite food is soup because it has lots of vegetables in it! Too young to write, her drawings are always full of flowers, happy sunshine, her church and cheerful heart shapes. Meet Juan Carlos: Juan Carlos Orozco Tejeda is nine years old and lives in the Jalisco Project, Mexico. He is the eldest of six children. Their parents are Ana Silvia who looks after the home, and Benigno who is a bricklayer. Juan does not attend school; he is wait-listed to attend as his local school is at capacity. Juan has pets - he likes cats because they chase the mice! He is clearly a special little boy, assisting his mother while his father is working. At home, his mother Ana says he is fun-loving and very helpful to her. Their home is a one-room construction with a kitchen area. The family would like to make their home more livable and to build another room. Click here to visit this project and to make a donation.	Emily Juan Carlos

November's Featured Donor: Steven Krumholz

Steven Krumholz was the generous donor that finished off Small Project #9 for Jesica Bajada.

Steven is originally from west central Wisconsin, but has lived in the Pittsburgh area for 20 years. He has graduate degrees from the University of Wisconsin and The George Washington University and works as a health care administrator for the Federal government.

Each autumn, he works on the only authorized charitable fundraising for Federal employees in Western Pennsylvania. For over 35 years he has donated to various charities especially those that help children. He sponsors two children through Children International, Yeimis from Columbia and Gissela from Ecuador. He discovered Aura's House through the Children International website and felt he could help with small and large projects in addition to helping the families of his sponsored children.

Steven is married and has two children, a 21 year old daughter and an 18 year old son. He does volunteer work in the Pittsburgh area for the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank, and as a volunteer firefighter in his borough. He is an avid gardener in the summer and enjoys doing home improvements all year round.

His interest in Aura's House has been to focus on donating to projects that improve living conditions. Likewise, he has been providing money for special projects related to improving living conditions for his two sponsored children.

Marie Cris of Small Project #8 received gifts from Aura's House donations.

See pictures here.

Children International in Manila reported that Marie Cris' family received the following:

-9 piglets to grow their micro-enterprise business
-two sacks of feed
-materials and labor to repair their water well
-clothing for the entire family
-assorted grocery items

The family, especially Marie Cris and her brother, Michael, were especially pleased to be able to add to the pig business. They said that they would take good care of this income-generating project, since this is part of their future also. They were pleased, too, to have the opportunity to repair their water well.

Originally, they had anticipated repairing and enhancing the pigpen ... but they felt that the water issue was more important since they need the water for their own needs as well as for watering the pigs and cleaning the pigpen.

• Please note, this donation button, along all the others on the site are for the current Kenya Classroom Project. To donate online to our Small Projects section, please donate from this page.

I prefer to donate offline.

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