Xmas Kids' Fund 2012... a great day!

RT here.

Every year, the PeruTops guys get together and raise funds to bring Christmas to one of the poorer areas of Peru, usually in the outskirts of Lima. Our participation in the English Forum has been limited to fundraising, both with me asking people to donate cash and Sly's annual Benefit Orgy.

This year, I was swamped at work and didn't push too much for money, nor did I get Sly going in time to raise the funds early enough. I did, however, plan my visit to coincide with the actual event, which took place yesterday.

Well, fair warning: You guys are screwed for next year. It was really great, and very, pero muy, fulfilling to interact with the kids and families in Ventanilla yesterday. You might as well get your wallets out now because I will be hitting you up for money big-time next year.

The PeruTops folks aren't always the most organized bunch, but they really had their shit together for the kids. There were two busses (and some cars) to make the hour+ trek on Sunday morning, plus a large truck with the gifts and chocolate and cake and other supplies for the day.

I didn't get a lot of details on the nuts and bolts, but it seems that this year, we partnered with some sort of health-related business to get more participation and also set up a mini- health/help fair at the event site.

The church in Ventanilla had sufficient space to house the fair... there were lawyers, psychologists, medical people, nutritionists, learning disabilities assistance and a couple of other services available. I didn't have much to do with this other than hanging a few signs, but it appeared that they were doing a brisk business. I did see some moms walking out of the building with boxes of medicine in hand, so I guess they did what they could.

For the 'fun' part of the day, every kid got some chocolate milk and paneton to start. Then there was a lot of running around and yelling (well, they ARE kids) while they waited for the show to start.

The show people arrived, four girls, three boys and a DJ. The boys and girls danced and sang, they played a few games, and everyone enjoyed the hour. There was a special appearance by the Santa Cuy. It was pretty odd, but the kids loved it.

Then, the big finale: Gift Time. The kids lined up by age (more or less), and everyone got a Christmas present. I'm not sure how many of these ninos and ninas were going to see anything wrapped for them on Christmas morning, so this was a real treat for them (and for us as well). I got to be there as they received their presents, and their smiles made the time, effort, and money more than worth it. Some moms also got bags with some household essentials like rice and oil and powdered milk and some other stuff, too.

We had over 600 gifts at the church; they were all gone at the end of the afternoon. I am guessing that we saw about 650 kids at the event.

These kids were really well-behaved and polite. We heard a lot of 'gracias' when we served the drinks and distributed the gifts, and when we were walking around with garbage bags, many of the kids either searched us out to give us their trash, or they picked up what was on the ground to put in our bags. One of the church ladies explained to me that they have a class every Saturday for the kids on 'doing the right thing'... I guess the lessons stuck.

Was I any help at the event? Well, I know that the money I donated was a help, and I guess my being there didn't hurt. I helped carry boxes, I walked around with the garbage bags, I helped keep the kids in line for the gifts, and I got to make some children giggle, so I guess that I helped. A few of the braver children figured out that I was American, so they came to me to practice their English. That was fun both for them and for me. I do know that anyone who did any ACTUAL work on this did a great job.

I took approximately 763870324029 pictures, and it will take me a while to organize them all, but here's a few of the money shots. You'll have to wait a little bit for Health Fair/Santa Cuy/Paneton photos, but here's a few Christmas heart-pullers to get you going. Click on the images to see larger versions.

 

I can see it now... "Ho Ho Ho: No Habla Espanol."

These kids would need YEARS of therapy.

 

RT here. With more cute kid photos. These are from when we were giving out the chocolate milk and panetton.

As always, click to enlarge. Also, if you want to donate now for next year's event, send me a message. Thanks.

 

RT here. The next few posts will be a whole slew of photos from the day we went out to Ventanilla and brought a Christmas party to a really poor section on the outskirts of Lima. This first batch shows the neighborhood we visited, the Church that hosted all the events, the setup for the health/help fair, and the truck arriving with the gifts and supplies for the Chocolatada. In all photos, click to enlarge.

 

Here's some prep work and the start of the distribution of the chocolate milk and panetton to the kids.

 

Some more chocolatada:

 

General milling about, the Show (featuring Santa Cuy!), and more hanging out until gift time.

 

The tons of gifts, including household stuff for some of the mothers, my junior assistant, the list of boys' gifts, and the start of distribution to the really young kids.

 

More kids with presents. Remember these faces when I hit you guys up for money next year.

 

More kids. We gave the gifts out in age order, so they are a little older here.

 

More kids; more gifts. We distributed stuff to approx. 650 ninos and ninas. For this many children in one place, they were remarkably well-behaved.

 

Just another zillion to go. There were a few brave ones who had learned a little English in school and talked to the big white guy. They told me how excited they were to get a truck, or doll, or whatever. It just about broke my heart.

 

Here's some of the older kids.

 

This is the last batch of kids photos. The little girl in the last two pictures helped me take some of the pictures. The man with her is the pastor at the church. He did a great job, as did everyone involved in putting this together.

 

Thanks, dude.

But I just showed up and carried boxes around (and took photos).

The real credit goes to the guys and girls who work on this all year 'round... I was blown away by the level of dedication these people showed.