Easter Egg Tally 2014

Well, Super Mom Helen Sowards and her team of angelic assistants have done it again.  The crew at Made With Love Home Bakery made over 1,200 decadent chocolate-covered eggs this Spring.  They also received donations for more than half of the materials needed to make these Easter treats.

The total donated to SYI by Made With Love Home Bakery is over $5000! 

THANK YOU!!! 

Dorm Progress

The boys dormitory at PASK is coming along nicely.  They have already started to use portions of the building and have put in a few bunk beds. I have requested photos of the interior and will post them as soon as I can.

The exterior of the main building has its first coat of white paint. 

The attached kitchen is nearing completion. 

The good folks at PASK anticipate the dorm to be finished (inside and out) by the end of the month. They are planning a small party to thank the workers who built the dorm for a job well done, and to commemorate first communion for two of the children living at PASK.   I can’t wait to see pictures of all the children dressed in their traditional Sumbanese outfits for the celebration!

Operation Dorm Thank you gifts

I am putting together a photo book documenting the progress of the dorm at PASK  and will be sending one to all donors who gave more than $500 towards Operation Dorm.  I am happy to send photo books to anyone else who would like to have one for $25 + shipping.  I am planning to order copies of the books in early July and ship mid – late July. If interested, please email sumbayouthinitiative@gmail.com and let me know how many copies you would like.

Easter Eggs 2014

Made with Love Bakery is at it again!  If you want one (or 10) of these delicious Spring treats, just let us know!  Each candy is 1/2 lb of filling dipped in semi-sweet chocolate and beautifully packaged.  For $5 you get a decadent treat worthy of gifting, but you won't want to!

Made with Love Bakery donates the proceeds to SYI.

The purchase of 1 egg feeds 1 PASK child for 1 week!

Filling choices are peanut butter, mocha, maple nut cream, coconut, cherry nut, and cookies and cream.  

A good year for SYI

 The kids at PASK still have many needs to be met, but SYI has had a great year thanks to some very generous supporters.  This year SYI assisted PASK with more than $3000 worth of food and school fees. PASK is working towards sustainability by utilizing a portion of the food funds that SYI supplies to purchase plants for their vegetable garden and small livestock such as ducks.

The Easter Eggstravangza held in the Spring raised over $2500. The ladies of Made with Love Bakery are already gearing up for an even bigger Eggstravangza in 2014.  Check back here in March for details about how to get your delicious chocolate Easter egg. 

In July, local workers broke ground on the much needed boys dormitory at PASK.  Recently, SYI received the final donations necessary to reach our $16,000 goal!!!  The dorm is currently being completed.  I anticipate photos of the finished building later this month. (A gigantic thank you to Novita Mawo for sending photos and updates while attending school for public health!) I couldn’t be more excited about this accomplishment!  Thank YOU for making it possible to give such a wonderful gift to the children of PASK. 

Our new fundraiser held in December was a holiday appeal in the style of Heifer International.  This new venture, in which donors could earmark their donation for items like flocks of chickens or ducks, school tuition, goats, dorm furniture, etc. raised $1540.  Donors gave money for 3 flocks of chickens, 2 flocks of ducks, 5 garden patches, 2 mattresses, 2 blankets, 1 goat, 2 child sponsorships, and 1 semester of tuition. We have pledges for additional gifts that are anticipated in early January.  If desired, a card went out to a gift recipient in whose honor the donation was made.

 Also, other individual donors and supporters in Indonesia have taken an interest in PASK thanks to Ibu Martha Hebi.  In response to their need for new shoes, several persons stepped up and sent them shoes for Christmas!

SYI has much work ahead of us, but we continue to be overwhelmed by your generosity and the difference it has allowed us to make in the lives of our friends at PASK. In the coming year, SYI will continue to support PASK in whatever way we can.  We want to offer these 40 children a happy, healthy childhood and the opportunity to better their circumstances. 

We are also in the beginning stages of planning a trip to Sumba to visit PASK in the summer of 2015.  If you are interested in traveling with us, please send me an email: sumbayouthinitiative@gmail.com

A BIG THANK YOU to all who participated this year.  We hope you will consider SYI when making donations in 2014 as well.