Library Party!

On Friday we held a Fall-themed party in the library to celebrate the start of classes and to attract some new community members to the Centro. The party was a wild success (slight emphasis on the wild) largely thanks to the students in Emily and Taylor’s high school Nutrition Classes, many of whom were first timers in the library. We estimate that a total of 70 kids and teens were running around the library and teen center at one point or another during the party. Our modest food preparations didn’t stand a chance… after 3 hours of preparing Fall-themed snacks, everything was gobbled up within the first half hour. Bobbing for apples was a huge success (and a huge mess) as kids with dripping wet faces raced to the back of the line for another chance at winning a prize. After lots of preparation and lots of excitement, we PDs were thoroughly exhausted. Although the chaos probably chased away any adults who might have attended the celebration, the kids certainly enjoyed themselves and we expect to see lots of new regulars in the Centro.

Ping-Pong Tournament

New faces in the library

Some of our regulars playing Monopoly

The line to bob for apples

Egipto Tournament

A Big Thank You for All Your Support

The Chase Community Giving Competition has ended and the official results are finally available. Unfortunately, MPI did not win our division and will not be moving onto the next round, but we did finish a respectable 3^rd behind some other well-known nonprofits.

Also, we would like to send a special thanks to the following individuals, organizations, and networks, who kindly promoted Manna Project during the competition:

v Pencils of Promise

v Brad Corrigan, of the bands Dispatch and Braddigan, as well as his own nonprofit Love Light & Melody

v Catchafire

v Lacrosse the Nations

v Our Time

v Razoo

v ORPHANetwork

v Giving Matters

v Spark Microgrants

v Other Places Publishing

v The US Center of Citizen Diplomacy

v Building Bridges Coalition

v Spark Microgrants and the Local Solutions Forum

v Matthew Perryman

v The band Relient K

v The band Jars of Clay

v Alongside Ministries

v Members of Save the Children's Corporate Partnership team

v Duke University's Center for International Development

And all of our friends who endured our relentless pressure to spread the vote.

While we are of course disappointed to have not moved on to the next round, we are sure that the publicity Manna has garnered during this competition will serve us well in the future. Having visibility is an important component for nonprofits to grow and receive funding, and with more than 10,000 votes, it is certain that MPI has increased its visibility both in the U.S. and in Ecuador.

Hola teacher!

We are now three weeks into our first quarter of classes and thoroughly enjoying all of the new faces around the Centro. It has been nice to see all of our advertising hours pay off as more and more people poured into the library during the first weeks of inscriptions. It was awesome to see the Adult Basic and Intermediate classes reach capacity, and even to have enough interest for an Advanced and Super Advanced English conversation class. It has also been nice to settle into a normal schedule now that all of our programs are finally up and running.

I had been anxiously waiting for Adult English to start; it is a program I was excited about from the beginning. While some of the other PD’s were nervous about teaching, I had a little bit of experience teaching ESL and already knew what a cool experience it can be. I was also looking forward to interacting with some of the older people in the community, since the majority of our library users are niños.

There is something really intriguing about watching adults learn. We think of the educational process as something that we go through as children and young adults but no matter what our age, we still have a lot to learn. It is fascinating to watch adults automatically return to the school-children mentality as they find themselves once again in a classroom setting. My English class whispers answers back and forth and copies off each other when my back is turned. They speak too softly when they are unsure and smile proudly when praised. They groan when I give them tests and make up excuses for why their homework isn’t done. No matter what our age, learning new things seems to keep us young at heart.

Unlike most school children however, the adults in our English classes seem to genuinely enjoy being there. This was made apparent to me when I tried to dismiss my class ten minutes early on Saturday since I assumed they were tired after the three-hour class. No one moved from their chairs, they instead started quizzing me about what kind of music I like and insisted that I sing “Yo no sé mañana” for them, translated into English. After hearing me sing they obviously didn’t beg me for an encore, but it was a fun way to pass the last ten minutes of class.

Some of the adults hang around in the library after classes on Saturday just to chat, which brings a lot of liveliness to the Centro on a day that used to be slow. Last week all of the Adult English classes learned the “Happy Birthday” song and serenaded Profe Emily after class for her birthday. One of her super advanced students and a good friend of ours Evo even brought in a cake to share. While the niños make us smile fast with a hug and an “hola profe,” having the Adult English students around has given us close friends in the community. While we try and shy away from being just an English teaching organization because there are a lot of other ways to serve the community, it is nice to provide members of the valley with a skill they so highly value and desire.

Nicole's Children's English class hard at work

Teacher Charlie explaining the future...

Keep up the voting!

Thanks so much for all the support so far. We are currently in 3rd place, with plenty of time left to go in the voting. Please take a second to vote if you haven't already, just follow this link and cast a vote for Manna Project International under the Youth Developer category.

This is real money that will make a huge difference to the communities we serve in Guatemala, Nicaragua and Ecuador.

Please help us spread the word by sharing the link with your friends on facebook and asking coworkers and family members to cast a vote.

We will continue to provide updates on the progress of the competition, thanks so much for your continued support!

Help us win a MILLION dollars!!!!

Manna Project has been invited to participate in the Case Community American Giving Awards for a chance to win a MILLION dollars! This is an incredible opportunity for us and we could really use the funding. The contest is simple; it all comes down to Facebook voting. For the first round we are competing against just four other organizations in the youth development category. We have one week to beat out the other four and move onto the second round. If we advance to the second round we automatically win $125,000 and we have the chance at a million!

We won before, we can do it again! In 2009 when Chase first started their Community Giving Awards MPI won $25,000 so we know it is possible, we just need your help!

Voting lasts just one week, from September 28^th- October 5^th.

Just follow this link it only takes a few seconds and could help us make a real difference in the communities we work in.

You will be prompted to “like” Chase Community Giving and then have the chance to vote for Manna Project under the Youth Developer category.

Help us even more by posting this link as your status on Facebook and Twitter so we can reach out to as many people as possible.

We will keep you updated throughout the voting process, thanks for all the support!