How is $33/month used for my sponsor child?

“Your gift helps a child in 3 ways: Education, Nutrition & Health…but HOW that looks is different at every site.  Chalice does not take a cookie-cutter approach.” – this is what I've always told sponsors on the phone when they call our office.  

But I didn’t have any first-hand experience...that is, until Monday!

On Monday, we helped distribute the quarterly benefits for the children of Yapacani and their families.  The summer vacation has ended & before school starts, the children's quarterly benefits included school supplies and food for the family.  Along with the sponsor site team & volunteers, we were about 25 people working in rooms that were packed high with supplies.  It was our job to stack them in piles for the families, who arrived all morning long to pick up their benefits.  I can still hear the children's names being called from the entrance, and seeing them and their families coming in with bags to fill...

Here Mauricio & Ingrid form part of our assembly line - take a look at those beautiful smiles!  It was truly a life-giving experience.  You can see the large bags of pasta on the right, boxes of oil ("Fino" brand) next to them,  washing powder between them, and they are passing a stack with some of the school supplies.  Each child received a pack of legal sized paper in a folder, several notebooks with grid paper (legal size, 2 letter sized, smaller one), 4 binders with 200 sheets of paper, geometry set, pencil case, glue, pencil crayons, sharpener, pencils and an eraser (from what I remember...).  The food also included 2 packs of milk powder, 2 jars of trilo (goes into milk), 4 bars of soap, and a bag of sugar.  There was also a nice soft new towel.  In the background you can also see a portrait of Don Bosco - which we saw everywhere.  I kept thinking of how amazing it must be for him to see such love for these children, all inspired by his life and charisms.

Can you see the sweat on my forehead?!  Many of us agreed we hadn't sweat so much in our lives - 3 or 4 hours in the heat!  I'm sitting next to a bag of sugar.  Behind me is one of the three entrances where the families came in to sign for and collect their benefits.  It was truly a joyful, blessed morning - I am SO grateful to have been there.  God's love and joy was so present!