By Simon Hare | Development Director, Globalteer, parent charity
Dear supporters
Following on from Picaflor's new healthy snack programme we are really excited to announce that we have recently launched our full-on healthy lunch programme.
Every day more than 50 children are now receiving a balanced and nutritious lunch at Picaflor House which is benefiting both the children and the community.
By working closely with the families we had quickly realised that many children were not receiving a balanced diet and in particular were not getting a regular intake of fresh fruit and vegetables. This can have serious long term effects on physical and cognitive development and unfortunately many of the families we work with could not afford to provide the variety of foodstuffs that we take for granted in "first world" countries.
In addition to this, many of the children had to walk long distances after finishing state school at lunch time in order to get home for lunch, and then walk equally long distances to get back to Picaflor House in time for classes. This had resulted in some children’s attendance falling simply because they were too tired, or too late to get back to Picaflor House.
The introduction of the lunch programme not only means that the children get a really good meal at lunch times, but they can come straight from school to Picaflor House and be ready for classes which start straight after lunch.
Already daily attendance figures have improved. Previously, on a really bad day there could sometimes be as few as 15 children at Picaflor, but now we have over 50 children every day of the week.
Project Manager Laura said,
“This is such a good programme that helps us to achieve so many of our objectives. The children are well fed, attendance at Picaflor is up and we have also recruited two of the mothers who were previously out of work to do the cooking - It’s a truly holistic solution!”
English update
With such brilliant attendance figures the impact of our new English teaching programme promises to give even more of our children some really valuable help in English language learning. Lynn, our newly appointed English programme coordinator has settled in well and the children love her lessons.
Lynn’s contract runs out in February and we would dearly love to keep her on for another year, but along with all the other essential running costs at Picaflor House, it means that we need to raise just over £3000/$4000 to be able to do this.
So, if you would like to help us cover all our running costs next year, please consider making a donation this Christmas – a one-off gift or a monthly donation will make a huge difference to the children of Picafor House that will last well beyond Christmas.
Christmas bonus for our American supporters.
If you are one of our US donors, and you are considering making a donation, you will be pleased to here that this year your Christmas gifts could go even further! On Giving Tuesday – 29th November – any donation through globalgiving.org up to $1,000 could get a 50% boost from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation! Donations can be made from 00:00:01 on Tuesday 29th November. There is a limited bonus fund so please donate early to be in with the best chance of getting that 50% bonus. Please note that gift cards and check donations are not valid for the 50% bonus
And if you set up a recurring monthly donation before December 31st, Global giving will add double your monthly donation when your fourth payment goes in.
And a Christmas bonus for our UK supporters!
Christmas gifts go further in the UK too! If you donate anything up to £600 through globalgiving.co.uk between November 29th and December 31st, it could also be boosted by 50% thanks to Global Giving. There is a limited bonus fund so please donate as soon after 00:00:01 on Tuesday 29th November to be in with the best chance of getting that 50% bonus.
We know 2016 has been a tough year so we are extremely grateful for everyeone's support and would like to send a huge thank you from everyone at Picaflor House – with your support we have achieved a great deal and with your help we can continue to do so throughout 2017.
Feliz Navidad!
By Simon Hare | Development Director, Globalteer, parent charity
By Simon Hare | Development Director, Globalteer, parent charity
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