Hope your summer was great! As I head back to school as a Junior (!!), I wanted to share some exciting plans for Giftkids for the 2018 holiday season! I have newly partnered with a local initiative Rescue.org here in San Jose who provides aid to refugees who come to the U.S from around the world in search of ways to recover their futures. This year we will provide ~40 refugee children between the ages 2-12 yrs with starter gift packages as they enroll into their new schools in the Bay area. Most of these children and their families have come from conflict ridden countries like Afghanistan. I am thrilled that we can do something for these kids - look out for more updates on this project as I work on it more!
2018 is our second year with Project Haiti. After thinking hard about what would be most meaningful to the children in La Gonave this year, we finally have a wonderful decision. We will now annually support a "Class Gift" for the graduating class who work so hard to pass the 6th grade Haitian national exam. At the end of their school year, the kids will take a ferry from La Gonave to Port au Prince for an overnight educational field trip. After a warm meal, they will spend the entire next day at the Haitian National History Museum learning many exciting things. This educational trip funded by Giftkids will be the very first time any of these kids leave the island to visit their mainland - imagine that! Here is a glimpse of the island where they are and the mainland where they will travel to.
As for Project India (also in our second year), we will be providing our 37 little friends backpacks filled with school supplies and we are adding something extra special this year. This December, I plan to visit the orphanage in Bidar (with my family), where I will have the chance to hand deliver the packages, meet these kids and ask them how we can continue to help motivate them. What a wonderful opportunity to strengthen our connection with these children - I cannot wait to take many photos and videos while I am there!
Lastly, I want you to know that we have finalized a date for our Second Annual Giftkids Wrapping Party, mark your calendars and come! We need lots of volunteers to wrap gifts, paint/write/decorate cards - so please contact me! Event is on Saturday November 10th! More details about this event soon but you should know there will be home baked goodies =)
So, with all this work, we will be touching 100+ kids this year (if you were wondering what the headline of this post was all about) and it is only because of all our wonderful supporters and friends - YOU! =)
Looking forward to a wonderful 2018 upcoming holiday season! See you on 11/10!
-Riya
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