1/14/07
2007 WrapUp
Below is a message from our founder Nancy. Be sure to check out all of
the new pictures in
our PhotoBucket album.
It's a week after 3 King's Day
And for miles and miles
The children of the Yucatan
Gave us HUNDREDS OF SMILES!
The presents were given
Straight from the heart
There were so many kids
We didn't know whereto start!
The children were happy
You could see it on each face
We really had a wonderful day...
It's a memory that's hard to erase!
And it couldn't have been possible
If you didn't bring down TOYS
We wouldn't have gotten as many smiles
From all the girls and boys!
THANKS TO EVERYONE FROM TA for making Christmas in the Yucatan a very
happy event for many girls and boys! We went to 4 different pueblos
between here and Tizimin, and gave out toys to hundreds of children.
Last year, we filled one pick up truck with toys. This year, we needed a
second truck! HOW WONDERFUL! Caeser, the owner of the trucks, said next
year, we will try to get more trucks to go out with toys! It was a great
experience for me and my husband Andy, Jorge, my friend and Caeser! The
children that we saw did not even speak Spanish...they spoke Maya! How
nice it was to hear them say THANK YOU in ENGLISH! They knew we would be
impressed...and we were! We left my house at 8:30 in the morning and
returned at 5:30 in the afternoon. It was an experience none of us will
ever forget! Again, none of this would have been possible without all
the love and support from the people of trip Advisor that continue to
come to Cancun! Thanks, Thanks and more Thanks!
.... I had the
pleasure of meeting Gene and Terri Vanderboom from Branson, Missouri.
They brought down 70 BACKPACKS for the children for the school supply
drive in August. These backpacks were bought by the First Baptist Church
of Branson. Thanks, Gene and Terri for thinking of my kids and for
lugging 70 backpacks all the way from Branson to Cancun!
We are now collecting toys for the handicapped children for Dia de los
Niños in April. Dolls, trucks and cars, memory games, dominos, easy
games and easy puzzles.
I have found that the kids in the pueblos LOVE certain toys...Girls love
dolls, Barbie's, doll sets, (Polly Pockets, Bratz), bead sets (nothing
too difficult, they don't read English!), makeup kits, hair ribbons and
accessories, etc. The boys love soccer balls, baseball bats and balls,
trucks and cars for the little guys, NERF TOYS, (very popular...they
loved the Nerf guns!), model cars (easy snap ones for older boys), Legos.
Puzzles, paint and crayon sets, memory games are good for both. We are
trying not to give out gifts that need batteries as these children live
far away from stores.
Again, best wishes for a Happy and Healthy New Year to all my friends
and I look forward to hearing from you all when you head south to
Cancun!
Love to you all! Nancy
Also thanks to Blue Pearl Resorts
in Playa del Carmen, EcoTulum Resorts in Tulum and Needful Things in
Cancun and the HARD ROCK CAFE for helping us with the collections by
being our drop off sites! You are all AMAZING!
12/22/07
Toy Distribution Starting!!!!
Below is a message from our founder Nancy.
Christmas in Mexico
ends on the 6th of January so we have plenty of time to receive more
toys. Yesterday, we went to the orphanage in Bonfil and watched the 17
children there enjoy the great toys...days early of Christmas! THIS IS
MY SEASON! WE ARE GETTING SMILES GALORE! My FAVORITE kids, the kids from
families with AIDS and HIV got their presents last night. I got cheers,
I got hugs and kisses and, best of all, lots of smiles from kids, moms
dads, grandmas and grandpas...everyone! We have many more toys to give
out to the children out in the jungle.
Merry Christmas to
everyone and I will be back before te New Year! Peace, love and SMILES!
11/23/07
TripAdvisor.com Donation Challange!
RYAN (Rlouisa)
on TripAdvisor.com has challenged all fellow TripAdvisor users to help raise at
least $1000 in PayPal donations for the kids!!! Not only that, he has pledged to
put down $250 of his own money to get us started! Lets all see if we can meet
this challenge!
Click below to make a donation!
11/3/07
Crunch Time.... (somewhat literally)
Alright gang, less than 2 months to go until
Toy Day 2007. As some of you may know our founder Nancy had a little accident and
has to stay off of her feet for a while, but that doesn't mean we are taking it
easy. Call your friends, print some flyers and let people know about Give a Toy
Get a Smile! We've got the Hard Rock Cafe in Cancun ready and waiting to accept
your donations along with all of our alternate drop off sites throughout the
Riviera Maya. We also have our PayPal account ready and waiting for those of you
that are not going to make it down in time for this years distributions.
To those
who have already donated, a BIG Thank You! To those that have yet to arrive,
don't forget to make room in your bags and your hearts for the less fortunate
kids around Cancun. With your help we can bring SMILES to even more children
this year!
10/16/07
Home & Away Magazine
Give a Toy
Get a Smile was
featured in an issue of Home & Away Magazine
along with one of our supporters EcoTulum
Resorts & Spa. Big thanks to both for their
support!
9/22/07
Request from our founder, Nancy.
A
school we dropped off backpacks to in Nuevo
Valladolid, has started a library for the children. Books in Spanish,
from beginners' reading up to high school level, would be GREATLY appreciated.
There is nothing more important than being literate! The teacher is a wonderful
man and recognizes the children's educational needs...WE CAN HELP! We had a
donation from one of our supporters of 25 Spanish beginner books that I donated
to begin the library. These would be everlasting gifts to the children of this
little jungle village!
9/21/07
Message from our founder, Nancy.
I was at the Hard
Rock Cafe today at Plaza Forum and was SOOO happy to see the Give A
Toy Get A Smile Banner placed above the entrance. Inside are 2 big,
red Christmas boxes to collect toys in. We are asking the tourists
coming into Cancun to please bring a toy...or 2 or 3. All of these
toys are going to local children:
Children from
families with AIDS/HIV
School for children
with severe mental, physical and emotional problems
2 Orphanages
A family of 6
children, under the age of 12, that live with their Grandma
The children living
in the jungle, an hour or more, outside of Cancun.
We collected over
900 toys last year and would love to be able to give out more this
year. With YOUR help, it is a definite possibility.
To everyone that
has brought in toys, a GREAT BIG THANKS!
And for those of
you that are coming to Cancun, please help us help the less
fortunate children in our area by bringing a new toy for Christmas!
Thanks for all your
support! Nancy Claus
9/7/07 The
Hard Rock Cafe, is now with us!!!
We once again have a HotelZone drop off, in Cancun. The Hard Rock Cafe
located in Plaza "Forum by the sea" is now accpeting donations for Give
a Toy Get a Smile. Just look for the giant guitar in the party center of
the HotelZone and you will know you're in the right place!
Señor Xavier Migueiz will be setting up a Christmas box for all the toys
to be collected, so don't forget to bring a few when you visit!
8/31/07 New DownTown Cancun DropOff.
The
Needful Things
Bookstore (which has both English and Spanish books) in downtown
Cancun has graciously offered to help collect donations for Give a Toy, Get a
Smile. The address is
Ave. Coba #67 Local
#2, its across from the Chrysler Dealership, on the way to Wal-mart via
the R-2 or R-15 buses. Approx 1 and a half blocks before the "Market 28" stop. Hours are M-F
9AM to 8PM, Sat. 10AM to 2PM, Closed Sundays
8/30/07
Delivery from Blue Pearl Resorts in
Playa del Carmen
We received a bunch of donations
from the Blue Pearl Resorts and would like to put a big THANKS out to them and
all of those who brought donations in support of Give a Toy, Get a Smile!
8/26/07
SPECIAL URGENT REQUEST FULFILLED
Message
from Nancy;
Dangers from Trip Advisor, sent the money via Paypal! I will get the money
this week and give the Ensure to Alejandra next Friday! HOW WONDERFUL! We
can always use a little extra $$$$$$$$$$$ so if anyone else would like to
help us out with money for ENSURE or money for toys if they won't be down to
Cancun before Christmas, PAYPAL is a wonderful thing! I'm hoping that
Danger's good spirit and generosity become contagious and everyone out there
makes a little donation to help our children here! Thanks Dangers
again and a SMILE from my kids! Nancy
8/26/07
Operation
"Backpack" Message from our founder, Nancy.
Friday, August 24th...Lindsay and I venture out to the outskirts of
Cancun and find a small government primary school. We found the "Jardin
de Niños Hellen Keller". This school has 450 students from k-6th grade.
The Director, Addy Coral Estrada told us there were 20 students that
were having financial difficulty so we left 20 backpacks for her to
distribute to the children that needed it the most. She told us that the
best place for us to go, where the children were most needy, was the
jungle pueblos. She also told us, she wished there were more people in
the world like us (that includes all my friends and supporters!!!)
Lindsay and I jumped in
the car and off we went. An hour later, we were in Valladolid Nuevo. We
found a one room school, "Jaime Nuno", that educated all the children in
the pueblo. Professor Salvador Vargas Rosas helped us to organize the
children so that we could give out the supplies. We even left a
typewriter so that the children would be able to learn the keyboard. We
distributed the backpacks and many pencil cases filled with pencils,
erasers and pencil sharpeners (many thanks to PennyPenguin! They came in
really handy! You got lots of smiles for this one!) The Professor was
telling us he hoped to start a library at the school. We donated 24
primary age Spanish books to start the library (Many thanks to the
person that donated those books)
The professor had all
the children in the class sit down and told them how our tourists that
visit Cancun brought all of these wonderful supplies, with a lot of love
and caring. They were told to appreciate the new things they received
and that they had to take care of the things, otherwise to give them to
someone that will care for them. He told them that they should remember
where the things came from and that the people that brought them did so
with a lot of love.
After about 2 hours at
the school, we left to come back to Cancun. We both had warm fuzzies
inside. The children were happy, the teacher was happy, the moms were
happy...we really covered all the bases! We told them that we might be
passing through town again around Christmas time. Operation Backpack was
a success!
As of September 1, we
are going to start collecting toys for the Christmas drive. Please help
us to remember the kids in Cancun for the holidays by bringing NEW toys
in your suitcases. Last year, we had over 900 toys...let's try to double
that this year!
Nancy Claus
We've upload a few pictures from the school
supply distribution to our PhotoBucket Gallery.
Click Here.
8/24/07
SPECIAL URGENT REQUEST
Read below a message from Nancy;
I spoke to the
administrator of the Learning to Live with AIDS/HIV. I am asking for PAYPAL
donations....urgently...for 3 children who are going through some bad times with
their illness and they need ENSURE as a diet supplement. The ENSURE costs $80
for the month of September... she really goes month by month because
she never knows which kids are going to be sick. It would be a GREAT thing if we
can get some PAYPAL donations to cover September's ENSURE costs.
If you think you can help with
this special request please click the PayPal "Make a Donation" link
below and THANKYOU.
8/22/07
Post hurricane
"Dean" Message from our founder, Nancy.
Hey
everyone...Happy to report that all is well in Cancun. We had some wind,
some rain, but nothing compared to the wrath of Wilma! Today, my daughter
Lindsay, Janet and I decided to put our time to good use (since we were one
of the few houses that didn't have electricity all day) and we packed up all
the school supplies into all the back packs we have received. Hopefully, we
will be distributing them this week. I'm not sure what our final count on
the backpacks is, but I will be counting them tomorrow and posting it on our
website. September 1st, we will start collecting again for our Christmas
collection. We also ask for coloring books and crayons and stuffed animals
for our trips to the Hospital. Chaco, the mascot for the Cancun Tigres our
local baseball team, helped me to pass out coloring books and crayons and
stuffed animals to the children in Hospital General on August 9th. We had a
great time and got a lot of press coverage within Cancun. A special thanks
to Ruben Mancilla for helping us to contact the Tigres and for all his help
towards this organization. He has dedicated a lot of time translating our
website and helping us to gain new supporters. THANKS RUBEN FOR ALL YOUR
HELP! He is also going to contact the new Soccer Team to see if they will
help us out as well. How wonderful it would be if they would fly the "Give A
Toy Get A Smile" Banner in the Stadiums! THANK YOU TRIP ADVISOR SUPPORTERS
for the amazing things you have brought and for all of the wonderful smiles
you have created! You are all top-notch!
Love
you ALL!!! Nancy
8/14/07 We received a
big box of toys, stuffed animals and school supplies from the Ecotulum
Resorts and Spas. Martin and his daughter brought over a bunch of backpacks,
and started us off with a bunch of toys and beautiful little shoes and
sandals for little girls! THANKS HOLLY and to ALL THE STAFF at ECOTULUM
RESORTS for your support!
8/10/07
Los Tigres (Cancun's
Pro Baseball team) join our cause... We are very happy to
announce that, with the help our loyal supporter Ruben Mancilla, the Cancun Tigres,
a Professional Baseball Team, are now supporting Give a Toy Get a Smile. Nancy
joined members of the team and their mascot Chacho, to visit the kids at the
local government hospital
yesterday. The kids were very
excited to see Chacho and received coloring books, crayons and stuffed
animals. It was very heart-warming. We are trying to get the Tigres more
involved, and hopefully, the new soccer (football) team coming to Cancun. We are
hoping to fly the Give A Toy Get A Smile Banner in the Baseball stadium and new
Soccer stadium opening tomorrow night!
Click here to read the article in the local newspaper
Novedades. (Spanish)
Click here for a scan from another local paper Por Esto.
(Spanish)
8/10/07
My Place is Closing Sooner than
expected.....
Unfortunately, tonight is the last
night at MY PLACE....Joe and Janet did not have any reason to stay open and
prolong the inevitable, so tonight is their last night. We have not decided on a
new HotelZone Drop Off site, so if you are bringing toys or school supplies down in the
mean-time, do not hesitate to contact us and we will make plans to pick up anything you bring!
Nancy's
Cancun Cell Phone number;
998 204-0072
Or email
Give_A_Toy@yahoo.com
or
Life_N_Cancun@yahoo.com.
Call us when you come in and we can
coordinate a time and place.
We are certainly going to miss MY
PLACE! Joe and Janet are the best and we are hoping this is not the last that we
see of the two of them. Janet just let us know that for the next week or so,
someone will be at MY PLACE in the evenings, if you would like you may pass by with
the toys and supplies....or call us directly.
8/06/07
My Place is Closing....
The restaurant and bar My Place, which has been our main toy collection point in
Cancun's HotelZone, will be closing the 20th of August.
If you will be arriving before this date you may still drop off toys at My
Place, for our supporters whom are arriving after that date we will arrange for
another collection point, so please, check the website for information on our
new Cancun HotelZone dropoffs. We would like to thank Janet and Joe of My Place
for all of their invaluable support to Give a Toy Get a Smile, and wish them the
best.
8/01/07
August Message from our founder, Nancy.
HEY EVERYBODY! I'm back in Cancun and I can't believe how much STUFF I
got while I was in New York. Thanks to JOE AND JANET at MY PLACE for
collecting all the stuff at the Club. We never could have done this
without you!
I am beginning to put the backpacks together...loading them up with as
much as I can. We have gotten hundreds of items for school. We can still
use backpacks...we have plenty of everything else, now we need something
to put the supplies in! PLEASE try to bring us backpacks... they are
usually over $20 dollars down here...a lot for a family that has 2 or 3
kids going to school...and that doesn't include all the supplies, books
and uniforms. Your generosity can really make the difference for a
family that is struggling to get their children the necessities for
school.
We have another month to go and then we start FULL STEAM AHEAD,
collecting for Christmas! We appreciate everyone's help! Any toys we
receive MUST have directions in SPANISH, books in SPANISH, games with
directions IN SPANISH! Anything that I receive that is in English goes
to English speaking children down here (usually American kids living in
Cancun), so they don't go to waste. We collect TOYS, DOLLS, STUFFED
ANIMALS, TRUCKS, CARS, TEA SETS, BABY TOYS, SOCCER BALLS, FOOTBALLS, any
kind of SPORTS THINGS, DARTBOARDS, SKATEBOARDS, WATER GUNS. I also visit
the children in the hospitals and give out coloring books and crayons
and stuffed animals, so that's a great thing to bring down too!
Thanks to everyone that has been keeping this drive alive! We have
definitely created a lot of smiles here and we have so many more to go!
Love and SMILES to you all! Nancy
7/20/07
Letter for Mexican Customs Authorities
Thanks to Ruben Mancilla for writing
a customs letter in Spanish for those
supporters who are concerned about getting their donations thru Cancun
airport. Feel free to print it out and present it to the customs agents at
Cancun airport, should they question your donations.
7/19/07
New Logo for Give a Toy Get a Smile, and
website changes.
We've changed the look of the site a little, but
our mission remains the same. "Back to School" time is FAST approaching so
keep those great donations coming, and be sure to tell everyone about Give a
Toy Get a Smile. We've also made a
simple flyer that you may print and display
to help us make children smile. Thanks to our great supporters we're on track to make lots
of smiles in 2007!
6/20/07
June Message from our founder, Nancy.
Hey everyone...I'm sorry if it seems as if I fell off the face of the
earth. May 19th, we had our big Fashion Show with the International
Women's Club. *(Give
a Toy Get a Smile is not directly affiliated with IWC Cancun)
I was in charge and needed some downtime before getting my act together
again for the Backpack Drive. I have TONS of stuff and hoping to receive
a TON more! WATCH OUT WALMART! Anyway, we raised $7,500 USD for the
Elderly in the City of Joy. These elderly people, for the most part,
were homeless or unable to care for themselves. This money will be put
to very good use!
I have received quite a few backpacks that I haven't had a chance to log
them in yet but now I am concentrating on that. Life_N_Cancun will be
updating the website for me as soon as I give him the numers. If you are
coming down and don't want to bring a toy, Walmart has quite a few toys
on "liquidacìon", much cheaper than the normal prices. You can pick one
or two up and drop them off at MY PLACE! It's that easy. The more toys
we get, the more smiles we get. I give the backpacks to the children in
the local areas of Cancun that really don't have a lot of money...it's
to ease the expense of necessary school supplies, which can add up to
more than $50usd per kid. School supplies are SOO much more expensive
here.
The toys go to the kids that live far into Quintana Roo, with no access
to a Walmart. I give the coloring books and crayons and stuffed animals
to the children in the General Hospital. I make frequent visits there to
distribute them to the kids that otherwise sit and look at 4 walls until
discharged. I try to make sure that the children from the AIDS-HIV group
that I have worked with for the past 3 years each get a new toy for
Christmas. I have a new school for children with severe mental and
emotional problems that I will be supporting this year. My husband and I
sponsored a breakfast for Mother's Day for the mother's of these
children. They are truly heroic! They are totally uneducated but 100%
dedicated to working with the school to work with their children. The
progress the children have made is quite apparent! They know when I am
coming, it's with toys for them! I brought them some small toys for
Children's Day but I want to have nice toys for these kids for
Christmas...so keep these toys coming!
After these two schools are covered, the rest of the toys go out to the
little pueblos of Quintana Roo. In many places, Maya is the language
spoken. Finally got the Spanish down and now I have to learn MAYA!
SO to all you people that I know and love and all those that have helped
me make these kids dreams come true, I thank you with all my heart! And
thanks for all the families whose lives you've touched with your
generosity! Nancy
5/5/07
Message from our founder, Nancy.
Buenas
dias to my friends! Just wanted to update you as to what I have been
doing lately. We have collected a lot of school supplies and some money
and toys for the children here. The great thing is, is that this week
was Dia del Niños...Day of the children. Wal-mart had some great toys
for liquidation so I ran over and bought 10 great toys for under
$100usd! The toys are SO expensive here that I grab them when I can! So
it begins...our Christmas collection!
Anyway, on Children's' Day (April 30th), I went to a school in the
colonia for children with Down's Syndrome and Severe Mental and
Emotional Problems. The Speech Therapist in my office works with these
kids. We brought a bunch of small toys (yo-yo's, coloring books, cars,
etc) to these kids. They were SOO appreciative!
My
clinic here in Cancun, Clinica American Smile (see we keep those smiles
coming!!!) is sponsoring a Mother's Day breakfast for all the mom's next
Tuesday at the school. We bought breakfast and refreshments for 80 mom`s....the
mom's of these children. Their lives are difficult enough....we wanted
them to have lots of smiles for Mother's Day. These women participate a
lot in the care and "education " of these kids so we felt they deserved
a nice breakfast. I am using the make-up and perfumes, etc. to give
these ladies for Mother's Day. They are always told that all the gifts
come from the tourists that love Cancun! I'll let you know how it goes!
I am
now a "Very Welcomed Guest" at the Hospital General! Whenever I call, I
have permission to give the children staying in the hospital coloring
books an crayons and stuffed animals. KEEP THEM COMING IN ....PLEASE! We
try to do this as often as possible because the children have absolutely
nothing to do in the hospital except stare at the walls! Joyce and I
left the hospital with a lot of happy kids coloring in their new books.
It was really heart-warming. The parents were as appreciative as the
kids...even more so!
I also
want to say a VERY BIG THANK YOU to Emily Anderson's First Grade Class,
from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Emily's mom. Lisa, brought us a box
filled with school supplies and toys. But the best part of the package
(for me) were the beautiful drawings done by her daughter, Emily's first
grade class! THEY ARE BEAUTIFUL! These children sent these pictures
especially for my kids here in Cancun and I want to send them a very
special THANK YOU!
How do
I go about thanking everyone individually? I am so happy to have all of
your support. We are really making a difference with the toys and school
supplies. PLEASE keep everything rolling in...believe it or not,
Christmas is right around the corner! (For me, every day could be
Christmas!) MY PLACE has been wonderful; I get so much stuff, poor Janet
doesn't have any room in the DJ booth....but she does it, all for the
KIDS! Please help us to continue to help the kids here in Cancun.
THANKS TO EVERYBODY! You have all been unbelievable! I will start
organizing all the things I got for school in August and will distribute
them the first week in September or thereabouts! I have lots of things
and plenty more room for more!
Nancy
3/12/07
First Count of 2007
We have added
the first collections count of 2007. Right now we want to focus on
collecting school supplies, ESPECIALLY book bags and backpacks. You can view
the 2007 status page here.
Note that some undistributed items from the 2006 effort have been moved to
the 2007 count.
2/22/07
Photo Update
We have added a few more photos to our
PhotoBucket Album, including a recent trip
that Nancy took to a local hospital.
2/16/07
Getting ready for 2007
We are getting ready for the 2007 effort after a
great 2006! Right now it looks like our main goals will be school supplies
and of' course holiday gifts for the children. The tentative 2006 tally is
here, and once again
THANKS TO EVERYBODY!
1/5/07
Give a Toy, Get a Smile 06' "Complete Success"
Read below a message from our founding member
Nancy Myers. We hope to have more pictures and details of the distribution
online shortly.
Hey everybody...The Toy
Drive was a complete success...so much so that we are going to keep it
going...April is the month to celebrate Children's Day here in Mexico.
Children receive toys on this holiday. Please continue to bring toys
down or school supplies. From April till August, I will be collecting
school supplies so that when the kids go back to school in August, we're
all ready with a backpack full of school supplies. I will be
distributing those to children in the government schools.
A BIG THANKS to Laura
at Blue Pearl Suites for bringing that gigantic box of toys to Cancun
for me! Your efforts are recognized and appreciated. How lucky I was to
find people like you to help!
Saturday is Three Kings
Day and i will be delivering toys to a special family way out in the
regions. It is an elderly grandmother responsible for 6 children under
12 years old. They have absolutely nothing...I will be giving them new
clothing, shoes, toys and hair ornaments. Of all the people I have met
doing this drive, I really found this family to be most in need of our
help.
Again, we have earned
our SMILES but I'm sure we can get many, many more with the help that
you all have provided. Please don't forget to bring a toy down when
coming to visit Cancun knowing that that small toy will create a big
smile! Help me to keep this project alive and make life a little happier
for some poor or sick child!
A basketful of smiles
to each and every one of you!
Nancy Claus
12/28/06
Over half the toys are in Smiling children's hands!
We have distributed a little over half the collected toys in and around
Cancun. Be sure to check out the pictures in our
PhotoBucket Album. Below is a message from
Nancy detailing some of her activities over the past few days.
First let me start with, I have a lot more respect for Santa Claus than
I ever had before. Handing out hundreds of toys was not an easy task and
I couldn't imagine covering the whole world! With that said, I would
like to tell you about our day giving out toys! We went out...WAY
OUT...of
Cancun, yesterday near Chiquila. Jorge, our best buddy here in
Cancun, is Mayan and from Tikul. We told him he was Santa Claus
for the day. He took us to some of the pueblos 2 hours away from
Cancun. We saw some pretty poor children! Everyone was very happy
with their toys. We would go on to the next little pueblo and give out
toys. We really tried to target small groups of children so we could
avoid the swarms and we even asked Jorge how everyone in a village finds
something out within minutes and no one has a telephone! Jorge told us
to listen to what the children were saying. They weren't saying "jugetes",
Spanish for toys. They were talking in Maya..."basha", toys! One little
kid would go running and within minutes 40 kids would be around our
truck saying in Maya, "give me a toy". We had a great time. One little
boy was standing in front of his open-air shack, playing in the dirt
with his brother. You could see his mom resting on a hammock inside the
cement building. Andy ran over to him with a racing car track for him
and a dump truck for his brother. Do I have to tell you about the
smiles??? We had 'em, they had 'em', mom's had 'em, dad's had 'em!
EVERYONE was loaded with smiles. It was a very warm feeling!
I am not handing out school supplies yet. I am going to give them out
in August. We are going to give out school supplies to the government
schools so that they can give it to the poor children that really have a
hard time affording it. Back packs are a great thing to be bringing down
and school supplies...pencils, pens, notebooks, binders, pencil cases,
anything school related, for the August give-away. There are pictures of
one family that I do believe is a special needs case. These are 6
children under the age of 12 that live with their grandma, that looks
about 70-something. For Three Kings Day, I am going to take all the
clothing, that is age appropriate and some more toys and some little
bath soaps and personal things for grandma. They were sooo friendly and
each one came over to give me a kiss and thank me for their toys. It was
beyond really great! Andy and I came away with tears in our eyes. We had
never seen this before...and now, we hope to be able to lend them a
little support. We hope to give out the other half of the toys by
Tuesday and then give this family their box of goodies on the 6th, El
Dia de Los Reyes. On behalf of the children, thank you for your love and
your interest. We had more smiles than we could have ever imagined.
HAPPY NEW YEAR to all from "Give a Toy...Get a Smile" and SMILE! Cause
you deserve it! ~~~Nancy Claus
12/21/06
Toys are going out & Toys are pouring in!!!
We have received overwhelming donations in the last few days and weeks. Over
256 items were collected in the past week or so and yesterday we received
another 242 items from the EcoTulum Resorts! This past Friday Nancy
was able to give out toys to the children in the Learning to Live with AIDS
Program, and yesterday distributed toys among the young AIDS patients at the
General Hospital. We hope to get those pictures up soon so be sure to check
our
PhotoBucket album for updates. Once again
THANK YOU ALL for your support!!!
12/14/06
First
Official Toy Day! Ten students from La Escuela Secondaria Benito
"Juarez" Region 103, received toys for the highest academic
standing and their good conduct for the 8th and 9th grades. Nancy was able
to give each one their toys, wrapped and individually labeled with their
names on their present. They were very happy to receive the toys, were very
well mannered, and gave a nice GRACIAS and, of course, a SMILE! Be sure to
check the photos for a few shots of the recipients.
11/16/ 06
Special Request Update!
Christmas in
Cancun has started a little early. Yesterday, Nancy and 3 friends
went to visit Gonzalo, the 15 year old young man with spina bifida. They
were warmly welcomed by his family. They spoke with them about how difficult
it has been for Gonzalo. In fact, he had an operation last year for an
infection and he missed so much school that they wouldn't let him continue.
That didn't stop him! He is now in another school, studying, when he's not
out on the streets selling newspapers to help support his family! His chair
was in poor condition; the seat was torn so he sits on a wooden board placed
over the seat. The tires barely had any rubber on them, and the chair itself
was extremely heavy. Well, he was very happy to see his new wheelchair and
he and his family were extremely grateful. A special thanks to LANurse for
bringing down the money from Justin Cohen to put towards the purchase of the
chair. We also received money from a small church group here and some
clients from a long-standing member of the International Women's Club here
in
Cancun. Put it all together and we had a WHOLE BUNCH OF SMILES!!!!
You can read more and see some photos from the delivery at
the IWC Cancun website.
Below are some photos taken at the conference as well as a scan of our first
newspaper article for Give a Toy, Get a Smile!
