We were able to schedule Operation Christmas Drop to our local school again this year

Thanks to so many people willing to donate and help and volunteer this year was the biggest year yet

The Honor Society at the girls school coordinated/supplied hygiene bags for all high schoolers at the school

The Marines at the embassy donated their toys for tots collection to the kids in the lower school enabling each student to receive their own Christmas gift

With donations from friends and families we were able to purchase 200 food kids that were distributed to members of the community

High schoolers hard at work filling hygiene bags

A few of our helpers for the day

We planned crafts and activies for the afternoon for all the lower school kids

Decorating sugar cookies, a highlight for many of these kiddos

Outdoor fun

Creating paper Christmas trees

Rob, the awesome coordinator that makes these things work each time we visit

Santa's sleigh in the form of a SUV

Christmas Delivery Video

Special Project

As many of you might know our family helps two rural schools that are located about 1 hour outside of Brasilia. We have been visiting the schools for two years and love the visits that we make there. At this time of year we like to buy food kits for the needy families. Breakfast, lunch and dinner is provided at these schools. When school is not in session many of the families struggle to provide food and kids go hungry. Their summer break is during the months of January and February. If you have any leftover money from your Thanksgiving budget, please consider donating to these sweet kiddos. For just $15 we are able to purchase a food kit that can feed a family of 4 for a week. Donating through PayPal is the quickest way for us to purchase these food kits. 
https://www.paypal.com  user: meredithholman@hotmail.com

Thank you!

A big thank you to all that have made donations this past year to our little project

We have be so grateful to get to help 2 schools about an hour from our home

The students finished up the school year this past month

Thanks to many donations we were able to make kindergarten graduation bags for 35 students

Help pay for a 8th grade graduation dinner for our adopted kids 

Purchase and deliver 40 food kits for families in the area

What a blessing

At times we wonder if we are making a difference but the past month has been a blessing to see

In our office I have a quote hanging to remind our family our the blessings we enjoy and try to share with others

"In our society, especially in rural areas, the highest social status is a gringo.  Americans are considered wealthy and knowledgeable-which makes them important.  Sending volunteers to this neighborhood has an effect on the adults, the other people in the community, and the children.  Those children deserve to see something different than what they know.  They need to understand that another way of living is possible.  When all they've seen is that neighborhood, no once can blame them for not aspiring to something better.  But when they feel important, welcome and acknowledged by others-especially those they consider important-it enhances their self-esteem. And it's a reminder to other community members-who know the gringos are visiting Bajo de Meco-that these children exist and they need someone to give them better opportunities."

School Days

Rob and I were able to make another visit to one of our favorite school this past week

The older three all had school commitments so it ended up just being the littles that joined us

This class that we adopted will be graduating from "middle" school next month

I feel like we are just getting to know these kids, it will be sad to say goodbye to them

One of the best parts of the day was hearing them sing a song that they had written for us

Then it was onto rousing games of musical chairs, trying to learn to dance like Brasilians, singing songs like head, shoulders, knees and toes to learn body parts and just chatting with these sweet kids

As always if you would like to help these students financially please contact me via meredithholman@hotmail.com
We will be taking a large food donation down to the school in December and attending their school graduation

School Days

When our family arrived in Brasil we felt the need to have our family be involved in the "real" Brasil

Brasilia is a lovely city but is not how 95% of the of the country lives

One of Rob's co-workers had been helping a rural school about 1 hour outside of the city

He had adopted a classroom, offered support, encouragement and gave the students hope

Thanks to this co-worker we were able to get in contact with the school and visit

The school is low income school, seriously low income

Most the of the families live on small tracks of land given to them by the government

The idea being that the families can use the land to live off of and hopefully grow enough food to support themselves and sell a little leftover for profit

One of the difficult things about this arrangement is they are given the land and then have nothing to start a garden with so often times the land just sits empty 

This past month we had the chance to visit the school and talk with them

The kids LOVE American visitors

For many its the first time they have seen so many Americans at the same time

We were crowded for photos and to listen to us speak English

While we were there Rob had the chance to talk to the school about setting goals

Many of these kids have no hope, no future and nothing to look forward to

We hope that making visits can instill a little hope into their lives

During our visit to the school we took a field trip with the principal and one of the teachers to a students home

This particular family has been having a really difficult time.  The father has been diagnosed with Parkinson's and is wheelchair bound, the Mom left the family and three children are in the home caring for themselves as best as they can

The definition of "home" is loosely translated.  They do have four walls around them and the roof is constructed with tarps and metal. 

Some of the teachers are in the process of building a new home for them

Thanks to the school they now have "running" water.  A water tank has been installed on the property. 

House building in progress

The school remembered last visit time we visited my little one loving Pao de Queijo.  This time they made sure she was well stocked.  This sweet school cook translated the lunch menu the day we went so we could read it in English, made baskets of pao de queijo and sweet treats to take home. 

Adorable girl that followed Samantha around wanting to learn English and Rob peeking his head into the classroom to talk to some students

We were able to adopt the 9th grade class.  Exciting since my two oldest are 9th graders as well.  I'm so grateful for the many blessings our family enjoys.  Our hope is in a small way we can pay it forward.

Some friends and family have asked how they can help...here are some ways these two schools could directly benefit from our support:
*Make a financial donation we can use to purchase building materials for the school
*Many of the kids are in need of school supplies.  You could order things online through Amazon, Target, Wal-Mart etc and ship to our mailing address and we can deliver them to the school
*Come visit us in Brasil and we'll take you to the school to teach English and feel of your love :)

Feel free to email me directly at meredithholman@hotmail.com for more information on how to help