Friends of Colombian Orphans

I’ve had to put brakes on myself. After running the numbers, we’ve realized that we don’t have the cash to run classes mornings and afternoons.

Instead, we want to raise a few more thousand to put in a few more machines so that our knitting teacher can teach more girls at one time.

If you know anyone who is looking for a good project to fund, please contact me. Thanks so much.

We have come so far! The auction raised $3000 and a grant of $4000 has given us some breathing room for a while.
But of course then I thought, why not buy an additional machine and have classes mornings and afternoons. Semillas has agreed to allow girls to attend knitting classes in the morning, so in effect, with three machines and double the instructional time, we can offer classes to a lot more girls!
We are also buying the instructor a sewing machine so that she can teach finishing of garments.
Yes, the money is leaching out of the account, and I am a little nervous about where more money will come from. But we have to grow little by little. We are learning as we go.

Thanks to my wonderful donors, the ebay auction raised over $3000. That is enough to keep us going for another 6 months. Thank you to all who donated and purchased wonderful knitted items and Colombian items.

In addition, I am excited to tell you all that we received our NIT from Colombia (now we are officially a non-profit in Colombia) AND our certification from ICBF, designating us as providers of humanitarian services. This means that we can offer our knitting classes in any ICBF facility and be welcomed with open arms!

It’s better than Christmas around here: the Gladney Foundation’s grant of $4000 came through once we became ICBF certified. So….we have $7000 to begin the new year and grow our project. THANK YOU!!

Please bid, please buy. Please help us to keep the knitting classes going.

http://shop.ebay.com/friendsofcolombianorphansinc/m.html?_nkw=&_armrs=1&_from=&_ipg=25

Here are a couple of the girls who are our first students. They have been knitting for only a week and are excited and are showing aptitude for this.

Our friend and supporter in Atlanta is arranging for a meeting for us with one of the Coca Cola foundations in Bogota. http://fundacolombia.org/multimedia.html?parte=3

Above is the link to their media page: you will enjoy the video, which is subtitled in English. It sent chills down my arms, watching this. Our charity meets so many of their criteria. I am hopeful that we will receive some funding from them.

I’ve asked that two machines be installed in Semillas de Amor on July 3. I hope it can happen. If it does and we are there, I will document it and post the video here. Keep us in your thoughts.

I have to share this. We just received a donation from someone who also sent us this email:

“We adopted our son when he was 3 months old. He’s now 10 and doing well. I periodically check online for organizations where we can donate the change we collect in our household.

Looks like you are doing great things.”