crap that's awesome

well, this entry has been a long time coming, but these past few months have been nutso. so i'll just get on with it......

here's edwin and his two sisters carlita (the baby) and brenda

this is my neighbor katy

this is niña domy's grandaughter paola

here's paola with her cousin, gustavo (niña domy's other grandson, the one whose parents took him out of school)

this is another kid from my school, brandon, and his three cousins

here's my old boss tim with his kids anna, mollie and sam

wait, what??? why do i have that last picture in there? haha. well, here's why. because of tim and his wife, cecil, and their kids, i was able to go around my town and give out some toys and games and school supplies to some of the kids that are really poor. the above pictures show some of the kids with the stuff i gave to them that mollie (who was in charge of the "crap that's awesome" campaign) got together from their house - old toys and books and games - that their family didn't really use anymore. i gave away most of the stuff, but still have some left that i'm using for prizes at the school. the grand prize??? a spongebob squarepants lunchpail filled with pens and markers and stuff. whoever wins it is gonna pop their eyes out of their head.

not all the stuff i gave away, though. let me tell you the story of a hook.

this is my hammock at my house. see how it's all draped on the line that i use to hang my clothes on to dry?

well, after about 45 minutes on a chair, antonio and i were able to install this handy-dandy hook (you know the kind you put in your ceiling and hang your bike from or something) that came in the "crap that's awesome" box, i know have my hammock hanging beautifully out of the way of my clothes line!







if i ever get a new camera, i'll probably have more pictures of the crap that's awesome giveaway. but for the meantime, you'll just have to take my word for it......the kids really, really love getting something like a new stuffed animal or a matchbox car. it's cool because it really is a way to recycle that stuff that you know is gonna end up making some kid deliriously happy.

i was reading some book and they were talking about how those bins where you think you're giving your old clothes away to charity really only gets sold to groups of people who then sell it to poor people. it never really gets "donated." this is true....well, i'm not sure if it's 100% true, but down here there are stores that advertise "ropa americana" and it's all clothes, from the states, old hand-me-downs that they sell for like $3 a shirt and $10 for a pair of jeans. basically they're like goodwill stores, they're just down here instead of up in the states. it kind of bothers me because the idea is that you're donating your clothes or "stuff" to people who can't buy clothes, when in reality it's just being sold to them. anyway, what i'm getting at is that this big box of stuff that tim and his family sent down was all stuff that went directly to the kids and people of my town. there was no middleman (well, i suppose you could call me the middleman....but i didn't turn around and sell all of the stuff to everyone, i just handed it out). sure, for some of the toys and games, i'm having competitions at the school to motivate the kids, but that's just to make things more fun for them.

i'll admit, seeing a tribe hat in the box of stuff was a little, well, excruciating....but i did give it away to gustavo who wore it every single day afterwards. hopefully i'll have more pictures to post once i get a new camera. but until then, muchisimas gracias to the crap that's awesome committee!!!

adios, for now