Chili for Chile!

Since arriving in Chile a little over two months ago, I've had a lot of time to ponder the concept of family. Some of the most powerful moments for me with the girls have involved my realization that their life at the hogar is not summer camp but rather real life. Many of them would prefer to live with their families despite whatever factor requires them to live in the institution. Daily exposure to this situation creates for me a growing sense of gratitude for my incredible family and for my unlimited access to them. I feel like I gush to my friends about my family a lot, and maybe that's annoying, but I think the gushing is warranted.

Along this vein, I'd like to share some photos with you of an event my dad organized. He's a minister at a UCC church in my hometown of North Yarmouth, Maine and recently helped the youth group organize a fundraiser for me called Chili for Chile! I'm giddy from seeing the photos and feel utterly overwhelmed by the love and care and hard work of the community. Although the idea of the kids organizing a fundraiser for me made me a little sqeamish at first, Dad reminded me that it's also about educating them and raising their awareness of the world around them.

So here we go! Here's the amazing cake!


Here are the organizers themselves, what an adorable and festive group!


Dad had his computer set up for a slideshow of my pictures thus far and displayed the binder filled with the print-outs of my blog he's been making and posting on a bulletin board at church.


The chili! It was a chili cook-off--I'm sure the competition was stiff to say the least. There were EIGHTEEN different types of chili, plus cornbread and rice, etc. Egad!


Raffle table!


The kids limbo-ed!

And a piñata, of course!

Mmmm.

I don't know how I got to be such a lucky person! I feel absolutely floored by all of this. I feel refreshed and almost as though I have a renewed sense of energy for the work because of this wave of love I've received. Time to pass it on.