Child Aid - Building Brighter Futures

Speaking of special events, it’s not too late for you to organize one for the summer!! Really, what could be more fun than having a garage sale for your favorite charity? (Maybe a bowl-a-thon.) How about a fundraising dinner? Or a Barbeque for Books? If you do decide to do something like this, we can create a little web page for you like this or this.

And be sure to check out our events page from time to time (it’s under the Donate button, top right). Have a great summer! 

If you live in the Portland, Ore area, join us on a beautiful bike ride to support Child Aid’s rural librarian training program. The ride will take place on Sunday, September 20, in the idyllic countryside around Forest Grove, just west of Portland. We’ll ride through vineyards, forests and rolling hills, all for the sake of great cause: community libraries in Guatemala and helping children learn to read. There are three rides so peddlers of all levels and ages can participate: an 11 mile ride, a 30 mile ride and the 55 mile challenge ride. Read more about the ride and register online here. We hope to see you there!! 

Chores onstage at the Kenton Club

Friday night’s benefit show at Portland’s World Famous Kenton Club was not only a hootin’ good time (by 1am, it seemed like half the crowd was on stage dancing with the band!) it was a big success as well. The event raised $1,215 which will go directly to Las Canoas’ library.

Las Canoas is a small, extremely poor Kaqchikel-Maya community above Lago Atitlán in the Guatemalan Highlands. Most of the families here earn $100 to $200 a month working intermittently in agriculture or busing to nearby Panajachel to sell crafts or other goods to tourists. The school here is poorly funded, the classrooms lack books and the library recently closed for lack of funds. With the help of everyone involved with the Las Canoas benefit, Child Aid is working to reopen the library, stock it with age-appropriate books for the children, provide training for a new librarian and the local teachers and start reading programs.

Portland musician and music educator Ivy Ross set the whole thing up after she spent a month volunteering and traveling in Guatemala. We owe her a huge thanks!

And then there were the bands: Pink Widower, Chores and Tine! They took time out of busy schedules and rocked the Kenton Club free of charge, bringing in loads of fans who donated at the door to support Las Canoas. Help us thank them for their support by checking out their My Space pages and buying their CDs! We also owe a big, big thanks to the Kenton Club itself, which donated 15% of the bar tab to the cause. Now that’s a bar with returning to! And of course, thank you to each and every one of you who made it to the club and donated to the benefit. All of us at Child Aid - not to mention the community of Las Canoas - appreciate your support tremendously!

Thank you!!!!!!

Pink Widower and their mighty horn section

(And by the way, if you’d like to organize a benefit or special event for Child Aid, we certainly could use your help! Just contact us .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)or call 503-223-3008. The Kenton Club show was a great community builder and is yet another example of what people can make happen for people.)

Portland people, put Friday, June 19 on your calendars!

Portland rockers Pink Widower, Chores and the all new Tine will play a benefit show at The World Famous Kenton Club to help the community of Las Canoas, Guatemala. Local musician/youth development activist, Ivy Ross, organized the event, which promises to be four hours of loud and very danceable rock-and-roll!

Proceeds from the benefit, matched with training and support from Child Aid, will help Las Canoas reopen its library, hire and train a librarian, and start a reading program for nearly 600 elementary school children!

Even if a night of rock isn’t your cup of tea, please pass this along to anyone you think might be interested. It’s another great example of how communities here can make a huge and positive impact on communities that are less fortunate!

For more information, check out:
www.child-aid.org/building/lascanoas.