Image: renjith krishnan / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
Our administrative meeting yesterday produced the following conclusion: We need to set our sites higher and incorporate aid for the children with disabilities into our budget. To do this we are going to strive to double our current monthly budget from $1000 (dollars US) to $2000 and designate at least 25% of all non-specific donations to a special fund, set aside to help meet the emergency and extraordinary needs of the families whose children have disabling impairments or diseases.
The distribution of these funds will be monitored carefully to assure that the money is spent on legitimate expenses like travel to and from doctor’s appointments, meals and housing for parents when children are undergoing surgeries in distant cities, and necessary food supplements, medicines, etc.
There was a time in my youth when I was without work and found it necessary to frequent the local food bank in the small town where I lived in Washington state. The items dispensed there were simple by our standards but compared to what we have to give out here in San Felipe they were bountiful. There, we had large blocks of cheese, powdered milk, some type of meat or chicken, rice, pasta, canned goods, fresh vegetables and fruit in season. With a small child and several homeless teenagers to feed, this program was a major blessing in my life and it is perhaps the memory of those few months that sparks my desire to pass on the blessing.
The dispensa here in San Felipe includes only a bag each of pinto beans, rice and flour. Sometimes we have sugar or oil but those occasions are rare.
Increasing our budget will also allow us to add a few additional staples to our food distribution on a regular basis, such as sugar, cooking oil and/or powdered milk.
The expansion of our budget will also include a Special Needs fund to allow us to better meet the needs of the families with children with disabilities.
In the past we have focused on providing a place for the parents to conduct physical therapy sessions for their children. After many conversations and visits to our therapy sessions, the representatives of DIF (Desarrollo Integral de la Familia/Integral Family Development) have announced that they are in the process of setting up a therapy program for disabled children at the local DIF clinic HERE IN SAN FELIPE! We at VSL are thrilled and anxiously waiting for this new program to begin at the first of the year.
As the new program will be better equipped and lead by people with professional training, we will be discontinuing our volunteer therapy program once the new DIF program is operational. In it’s place, we hope to set up a children’s pantry to provide food supplements, like Pediasure, baby food, diapers and funds for emergencies like travel expenses to and from hospital and doctor appointments.
But none of this can happen without your generous help. You can help us reach these goals by sharing this article with your friends and family. $2000 is not such a large sum when it it is tackled in small pieces. If we can find 100 people willing to commit to $20 a month, we will have reached our goal. $20 is equivalent to one lunch out or four lattés in the states. Here in San Felipe the same $20 will feed several families for a week. We are so grateful for those of you, our readers, who find it in their hearts to help.
If you would like to be part of this work, you can sign up to give a monthly donation or a one time gift via our Paypal buttons on the right. You do not need to have a Paypal account to give. If you click one of the buttons on the right you will see an option (in small print) that allows you to contribute with your ATM or credit card.
Thank you ever so much for your support. God bless you!
Note: The meeting was held at the home of Susan & Chuck and attended by Patricia Orosco Res (Director), Irene Cogley, Rosario Torres Combera, Susan Young & Chuck Bryant. If you are interested in participating in the promotion of VSL and want to be notified of the next meeting please drop me a note at vsl.vwl@gmail.com.