"You did it for Me"

"The King will reply, 'Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me."

Today Kamala and our team were busy at the homeless shelter.  Shopping, delivering and helping to prepare meals for those hungry and in need.  We have enough for one more delivery here and then we will be on hold until more donations come in.  

   

groceries being loaded into the car 

unpacking and organizing groceries 

cooking and preparing meals 

some of the homeless coming to pick up their meals 

It sure is a different time, but for safety sake we can not feed everyone together inside .  We are just blessed that we are able to do this much and that they will have a warm meal in their bellies. 

Vlad was busy today as well with deliveries to the Treatment center and to Red River orphanage . They both needed school supplies . Thank you to those of you who helped with this need. 

I mentioned yesterday that the Baby orphanage has asked for help fixing some water problems.   We have decided that we are going to step out in faith and begin this. It NEEDS to be done.  This type of work is often neglected as it does not have a lot of donor or "curb" appeal. What I mean buy that is that you don't notice it directly when you go to the orphanage ,  its not new carpets or toys or food that you can give the kids ..  but when its leaking and there are puddles and the walls are crumbling you sure notice ..that's why we have decided to move ahead and cover it out of our general fund if we need to. 

and mean while back on the farm the bagging of coal continues . 

The roof is leaking and the wind is howling !

The roof is leaking and the wind is howling.  These are words from Phil Collins back in 1981.  

Vlad has been working with the Tokmok Baby orphanage to figure out what to do because Their roof is leaking and the wind is howling.  Unfortunately it is a little more then just a patch .. that was the last 30 years , now there needs to be a lot more extensive work. But more then just the roof  , there are no eaves troughs on the buildings and there is a lot of repairs every year on the building foundations because of the water.  The quotes just came in and we will need to raise $1700 for the roof repairs and the eaves troughs. 

I know that this is a difficult time to be taking on something like this , but we know that the finances do not dictate the needs , but the needs dictate the finances, and right now we are dictating $1700 !

Over the years we have done many renovations on the buildings there, and a lot of those problems are a result of water damage .  Here are a few before and after photos of the past repairs , if you look you will see all of them have foundation problems.  The cement and mud buildings are porous , then the freezing temperatures cause the water to freeze and cause the bricks to crumble. 

I think the best time to do this would have been last year, but the next best time would be right  NOW..

We are going to go ahead and order the materials to get this started , and pray for the funds to come in quickly.. If you would like to be a part of this blessing, you can donate at the top right side of the blog ... Thank you so much  

Kamala and her coworker did the shopping for the homeless shelter today and will deliver in the morning. 

The coal deliveries went late into the night 

They also went to get the gas stove for Svetly Put orphanage , but the one they wanted was not available any more so they will talk to the orphanage and try again tomorrow.  

Blessed to be a blessing.

It was such a great day for so many people today.  All around the valley families received coal and food.    We have been so blessed. So many of you have come forward to help us making an impact.. We know that we are blessed for one reason.. So we can be a blessing to others .  Our team has worked tirelessly being the catalyst to be that blessing , and through it they have experienced  great blessing 

There are just so many people who due to the covid restrictions have been out of work and after 11 months, and savings dwindling, the numbers of people in need is growing.  

We have about 500 more bags that the boys are bagging up today,  This has us caught up right now but I am sure that more needs will come forward .

In the city our folks we also busy packing and delivering groceries . 

 

along with these food packages , we have also added in some extras like vitamins, clothing and blankets.  

Tomorrow they will be delivering to the homeless shelter and picking up the gas stove for the orphanage .  

They will receive because you gave

So today we heard back from a few of the orphanages about their current needs.  We had contacted them a few days back to see so that we are not getting them things that they don't need .   At Red river Their big need is school supplies and a furnace repair in the gym.   

 

Furnace needing repair 

School supplies is high on the list for the Children's Treatment center as well .  They also asked if we could purchase one more chesterfield for the kids .  I can see that it would be nice to be able to get the kids all up off the floor .  

Over at the Baby orphanage , they say that they are ok for diapers and food right now, but they do have a leak in one of the roofs .. so we will fix that , but I would imagine that they could use food but are afraid to ask at the same time as they ask for the roof to be fixed , so we will see what we can do about the roof repaired and then we will revisit the food needs .  

Back at the farm every one was busy bagging , bagging and more bagging.  To start the some of the boys were bagging coal .. They will have about 650 bags of coal to bag up .  

Over at the guest house they are bagging up food packages that we will deliver with the coal .. we will do about 50 bags  this week .

Back in Canada I have ben working on the year end reports and the Tax receipts.   This year I have about 50 people that did not fill out their address when they donated on PayPal and I did not have their addresses from previous years.   This is a lot of work tracking down all these addresses, but at the same time it is exciting because that means that we have at least 50 people that have joined our network of philanthropists.  Thank you all so much for spreading the word.  Together was are able to make such a difference.  This week alone 50 families and 4 orphanages and a homeless shelter are going to receive,  because you gave . 
 

Deliveries are resuming

  Vlad was able to secure coal Today .. We received 33 tons . Tomorrow the boys will begin bagging the coal, and at the same time Vlad will have them put together 50 more food hampers .. By Tuesday we will be able to resume deliveries to 50 families in need.  This is more then just comfort, or life saving, this will bring a HOPE to families who are tired and desperate.   The names of people have been given to us by several different organizations who have been overwhelmed with new needs or have run out of resources.  

We have been able to pay the tuition for the three kids at Svetly Put and have ordered a stove for them .

We are now working on trying to get them some devices so that the kids can be on line for their schooling.

We are also working on another delivery to the homeless shelter and to 4 other orphanages.. Stay tuned for reports.... If you would like to be a part of any of these needs, there is a donate button on the top right side of the blog .  Thank you all who have been helping us with so many needs .    

A change of plans

 Things never seem to go as planed... We had two big things for this week, both of them needed to be changed or altered.  The first was a visit to Svetlyi Put to confirm some needs and get re acquainted and bring some food.  This had to stop when we learned that 4 of the children have covid right now.  We have been able to get bank deposit information for the schools tuition payments so Kamal will take care of that.  

Also we have talked with them on the phone to determine what is the best gas stove. We will work on that and then have it delivered with some food .  We are still hoping to raise about $1000 so that we can get them some cheep lap tops or computers so that the kids can do remote learning.  

The next hickup we have had is that we had ordered 30 tons of coal that was going to arrive on the 10th.  At this point it has not arrived and there does not seem to be any anywhere.   we do have a few tons ahead for the green house .  We can borrow from that in an emergency but are praying that the coal will soon arrive.  We are also looking into purchasing more wood that can be used in place of coal.. It does not burn as hot or last as long , but it will keep people from freezing to death. 

We are making arrangements now for more deliveries to the homeless and then orphanages next week .. The baby orphanage, the children's treatment center , Chui and red river orphanages and the homeless shelter .. We will confirm with them each to see what their greatest needs are .   

Getting re-acquainted

Many of you will remember an orphanage we worked with called Svetlyi Put.  They were a very well run orphanage that among other things had a great sewing program for the kids.  They are the group that had made the beautiful nativity yurts.  

 

delivering Vitamins to the orphanage many years ago 

Well a few years ago they lost their building and had to move. 

It has been a few years since then and we had always intended to continue to help them when they got open in their new home.  Then we had some issues, we had to leave KG early, then we free late getting back in the fall because of my health issues, followed by covid shut down.. All this time it has continued to be in the back of our minds that we need to check in with them.  This week we decided that we would make contact and see how things are going .  

The orphanage is now called   Innovative orphanage “ Svetlyi Put”   They have built a home in a small village on the edge of the city.   They now have  19 kids ages 3 to 18.  Actually 2 are the biological children of the couple running the orphanage 

At the moment the orphanage is existing without sponsors and governments support. In 2020 they could complete renovating the building and were able to move in.  They  are running the house for the money from selling handmade toys and with the help of entrepreneurs.  Here is a short video about them you may find interesting .  You can also see the beginning of the tow business.   It was filmed a few years ago   

 

We reached out to them and asked for a list of current needs. They are as following :

1.  3 college students tuition – each 25 000 soms  ($1000 USD total )

2. Gadgets for(online school) school kids (laptop, supporting graphics programs, graphics tablet, guitar) ($1000 USD)

 3. Gas stove  ($400 USD)

4.Repair materials for two rooms  ( Laminate, water emulsion, panel, house cladding) Probably about 5or $600 

So we are looking at about $3000.  Kamala and her team will go out there this week to confirm and discuss the tuitions to start. they are not something that they can wait long for, so we will have Kamalla make arrangements to go to the schools to pay these tuitions ..   We are stepping out to cover this, but any more we are able to do will depend on you .. If you would like to help us with this please use the donate  link on the top right side of this  blog 

Parties continue

Today was a special day for the family that Vera has been helping, with your help.  Today she has all her documents in order and even has an in country passport to show for it .   This was the first big step to rebuilding her life.   

 Vera has also been busy with more Christmas and new years celebrations.  She had one school specializing with disabilities and several of the kids that are home with their families due to covid, so of course they were not left out.

Another exciting celebration took place at one of the smaller orphanages we have supported over the years.  We contacted a group of volunteers that we know have maintained a relationship with them.  We were able to come along side them to make the day extra special. This also helped to take some of the load off Vlad and the rest of the team.