Last Saturday we celebrated our annual “Encuentro de Aliados” (Allies Encounter) at our Hatillo 2 child center. Every year we like to thank our monthly donors because it is because of them that Fundación DEHVI is able to keep benefitting hundreds of boys and girls by providing access to a quality education and a well-balanced nutrition. Therefore, this year we decided to have a party and celebrate with the children and our Allies!
Early in the morning, the teachers began receiving their students as the Sustainability department began receiving Fundación DEHVI’s Allies and some volunteers as well. When all the children had arrived and most of our Allies that confirmed assistance were at the child center, we began with the fun activities!
First of all, the “Aliados por la Infancia” Coordinator welcomed everyone to the “Encuentro de Aliados” and thanked the donors for their constant support. Then, the Atelierista (which is a very important figure in the Reggio Emilia philosophy – she is a combination of a teacher and artist and helps develop projects with our project based learning methodology) invited everyone to participate in fun games to break the ice. The Atelierista believes that dancing is a way humans can express their feelings, emotion and affection; therefore, we made a “ronda” where the children, teachers, allies, and volunteers were all dancing, singing, and having fun.
It seemed as if it was about to rain; therefore, after we finished with the “ronda”, we took the children to the inflatable castle and slide! Of course the children loved jumping and playing in the inflatables and the Allies and volunteers were playing together with the children.
After they played in the inflatables, we had snack time! Everyone had a chance to eat some delicious fruit and confectionary cakes; but most importantly, everyone had the chance to share. The Allies had the opportunity to get to know closely the children they are helping month after month with their generous donations.
Then, all children went to their classrooms with their teachers because all the groups prepared a small presentation of the projects they are working on. Therefore, the Allies and volunteers were given a tour of the child center, room by room, where they were able to understand how these children are developing 21
st century skills (soft skills) through project based learning. When the tour finished, the 5 year-old children gave the Allies a thank you gift they created by themselves.
Lastly, the children went back to play in the inflatable caste and slide because we had one last surprise for the children: bubbles! As the children kept playing, the Allies began to leave and the parents came back to pick up their children.
Without a doubt it was a very special day; especially, because our Allies (monthly donors) were able to get to know the children they support with their donations and because they got to see with their own eyes the positive impact that project based learning and a well-balanced diet have in these boys and girls that live in vulnerable conditions.
Therefore, we invite you to become monthly donors as well so we can impact more and more children together! And so you can experience another magical day like this with the children someday.
