In July, ten of our congregation’s dear 13 through 15 year olds will travel to southern Belize for a service project. Painting a primary school, stocking children’s books in the school library, helping install solar panels, and planting an environmentally-friendly native plant demonstration garden will broaden their world and allow them to connect with another culture in meaningful ways. Anne Frahn, the co-founder of the non-profit Teachers for a Better Belize, is leading the trip. The area where we are going is the home of Belize’s Mayan population. It is the poorest and most remote of Belize’s regions.
If this sounds like a great experience, you can support the service project in a few ways. We are fundraising to purchase painting supplies, school garden supplies, solar panels, and postage to mail children’s books to Belize. On Sunday, April 19, we will hold a bake sale in the church courtyard. Other Sundays in April and May between and after services, the Belize Service Project group will be tabling in the UUCPA courtyard to:
- Sell energy efficient LED lightbulbs
- Accept donations
- Collect children’s books (if you’d like to donate, here are donation guidelines)
– English best (some Spanish ok)
– Gently-used (good condition)
– Fiction or nonfiction
– All ages (preferably preschool to 4th grade, but we will certainly accept books for older children)
– YES: dictionaries; thesauruses; etc.
– NO: textbooks; encyclopedias
– NO: Books that are very specific to U.S. culture (e.g,, U.S. history, holidays, TV shows, pop stars, princesses)
– ONLY BOOKS; any other supplies are subject to heavy customs fees
Questions? Visit our crowdfunding page at https://www.tilt.com/campaigns/belize-service-project